Crossing Dimensions
by Wolfrunner99-2
Summary: Rule one: Don't get killed. Rule two: Stay together. Those two simple rules might be harder to follow than one would think when four maybe not so normal teens are thrust from our world into the Tranformers' world. To say the least, they really should have realized they should have been more careful with the little box they found in the school cafe on movie night... I only own OCs!
1. What's With the Box?

I typed away at my keyboard, glancing up as cars passed. My aunt tapped the steering wheel patiently, waiting to be able to turn. I glance down at my laptop, waiting for her to start talking.

"So what time do you want me to pick you up?" she asked. I sigh and close the computer, knowing I had to leave it behind anyways.

"When the movie is over, I'll call you," I replied. She nods and pulls into the school parking lot. I say a hastened goodbye, spotting some of my friends waiting for me by the doors.

My sneakered feet hit the pavement and I tug down my school sweatshirt further down onto my worn jeans, hoping to ward off the fifty degree chill that cooled the September air.

"What's up?" I ask as I reach them, shivering slightly.

"Not much, just waiting for Michael," Luke replies, shaking some of his ginger hair out of his eyes. I roll my eyes in distaste. Of course he was late.

"So Caity, are you going to watch Transformers with us, or that chick flick they're playing in the library?" Kain asked, teasing.

I lightly flick him, amused when he ducks away in mock terror, laughing all the same. "Transformers, dummy. I have enough drama in my life, don't need someone elses," I said. I bounced on the balls of my feet, not liking standing still and waiting so long.

When Michael finally arrived, they were about to start the movie and we had to dash up the stairs to the cafe.

"No quoting, Caity," Luke warned, poking me in the side.

I squealed and jumped away, glaring at him while he and the others laughed. I grinned as well, knowing that I probably sounded pretty funny. Still, I lightly shoved him in retaliation, which he lightly bounced back from and went back to walking beside me, hands buried in his pockets.

We grin at Mrs. Jorgensen politely as we rush in. Like last year, where we watched the same movie, we are the only ones there, everyone else at the chick flick.

"Okay, we're going to start the movie now. Behave, because I'm going to go sit in on the other movie for a little bit because there are more kids there," Mrs. J explained, and we nodded.

I watched the introduction, entranced even though I had seen it a thousand times before. I found myself muttering the words lowly, getting poked in the side once more by Luke, who shushed me as well.

"Hey, guys… what's that over there?" Michael asked, pointing his arm at a strange device left on one of the tables.

"Probably someone's project, and they just forgot it," Kain reasoned.

"Dude, I should take it," Michael said eagerly. I shook my head.

"Don't. It's not yours," I say.

"So? It's their fault for leaving it," Luke said. The movie was forgotten as the four of us crowded around the thing.

"I wonder who made it? It's pretty good," I comment, carefully lifting it. It beeped and I nearly dropped it, having jumped about a foot in the air.

"Don't drop it!" Luke said.

"I didn't! Don't poke me, or I will drop it!" I warned, holding it away from him.

"Here, hand it over. Maybe someone made it with the 3D printer and painted it," Kain said.

I look at it more carefully. Definitely metal. "It's metal," I say.

"Caity, hand it over!" Kain said again, grabbing for it. I laughed and dodged, tucking it close to my chest. It beeped again, accompanied by a blue light. This time I did drop it.

The blue light passed over all of us, before retracting back into the device with another beep.

"What did you do?" Luke asked, going to pick it up again.

"I don't know!" I say, looking at the thing worriedly.

"Luke, don't touch it, it could explode!" Michael said, as he himself went to touch it. I grabbed both of their arms and pulled them back, Kain helping me, but it was too late, they had touched it.


	2. Don't Think That Was Supposed To Happen

_**thanks for the review, guest SunnySides! Look! Over 1000 words!**_

I shrieked as my world was suddenly glaringly bright. After sneezing a couple of times, I opened my eyes. I had no idea where we were.

"Luke? Kain? Michael?" I asked, looking around me. I found them on the ground a couple of meters away from me.

"Everyone okay?" Luke asked, getting to his feet.

"Yeah, I'm okay, but, uh, where the hell are we?" Kain asked.

"Dude! What the hell was that thing?" Michael asked.

"Are we dead?" I asked, really not sure.

Luke put two fingers to his neck and shook his head. "Not unless you have a heartbeat after you're dead."

I checked myself. Yup, there was a slightly elevated heartbeat. "Okay… now onto what that was…. well, we don't know what it was…. but whoever left it out is a genius, because if we're not dead, and we aren't at the school, then we were… I don't know, teleported, I guess? Teleported to where ever we are…"

"Jeez, Caity, that is so helpful!" Luke said rather unhelpfully.

"Let's start walking!" Michael said cheerfully. I tug at my hoodie, uncomfortable with the heat. It had to be at least eighty degrees right now.

I carefully pulled it off, tying it around my waist and letting my arms have some relief from the heat. My tanktop bunched up a little, but it wasn't enough for me to pull it back down.

We walked for hours, me occasionally complaining with a smile, and some easy banter going between us. Some uneasy banter was brought up as well, but that was as to what we were going to do if we didn't find out where we were.

"It's getting dark," I commented, looking at sky with worry.

"And there is a road sign," Luke said.

"Tranquility, Nevada, four miles," Kain read.

Me, being who I am, shook my head. "No. Nonononono! We did not go into the movie. That stupid thing did not put us in the movie!" I say.

"What are you talking about?" Michael laughed, though it was uneasy.

"Transformers. Tranquility, Nevada is where it starts, it's where Sam lives," I say, annoyance in my tone.

Their faces of disbelief were enough to tell me that they got what I was getting at. "Well, shit," Luke said.

Yup. That about summed up the situation.

"So… how are we going to get out of here? We don't even know when we are! Because, I am pretty damn sure that it's not our time," I say, scuffing the dirt with my shoe and walking in the direction of Tranquility.

"When was the first movie made?" Kain asked.

"2007," I reply. I was….. eight at the time. Great. If we even existed in this place I was an eight year old.

"You know how weird it would be if we met the younger us-es?" Michael said.

"About as weird as us meeting older us-es from a different universe," I replied dryly.

We walked a bit longer, finally seeing the edge of the town. "Now all we have to do is find Sam's house," I say.

"Wait, you're telling me that you, who seems to know everything about Transformers-" Kain began.

"Just the movies," I interrupt.

"You didn't let me finish, Transformers Movies, and you don't know where Sam's house is?"

"Nope," I say, grinning sheepishly.

"HEY! Are you kids okay?" a voice asked beside us on the road. I turn and look, seeing the generic police officer cruising next to us. My blood went cold, but Michael didn't get the danger.

"Uh, no, we're actually a bit-" he began before I punched him on the arm, glaring at him warningly, thinking of the words I had just read off the side of the car.

"To punish and enslave" it read.

"We're fine, sir. Just out for a walk," I say instead.

The officer looked at us suspiciously before nodding and driving off. Michael turned on me, rubbing his thin arm.

I glare up at him, because, seriously, he's like six and a half feet tall. I bend down to tie my shoe, being paranoid, and scratched three words into the dirt.

That was Barricade

Comprehension dawned on their faces as I straightened, scuffing out the words with my foot.

"You didn't have to punch me!" he still protested.

"You didn't have to be born, and yet here you are," I snap.

"What's that? I can't understand stupid," he retorted.

"Really? Then how can you understand yourself?" I asked innocently. Luke and Kain laughed, informing Michael just how badly he had been burned, and by a girl, no less.

"Why am I friends with you guys, again?" I asked in amusement.

"Because you love us," Luke said, poking me in the side. "Admit it!" he ordered, poking me again as I laughed and attempted to dodge.

"Alright, alright! I love you all like I love my brothers! Except, you know, you're all older than me, not younger," I say, jumping out of reach of them.

"Caity-cat!" Kain said, tickling the back of my neck, which made me duck and purposely scratch his arms. "Ahh! Don't hurt me, I'm sorry!" he screamed when I easily twisted his arm behind his back.

"Caity, be nice," Luke said while he laughed. Michael wisely was staying out of it. I release Kain after another second, grinning and shaking my head, my mood lifted once more.

"Ground rule number one, don't get killed. Rule number two, don't get separated. Rule three, Luke is boss," Luke said.

"Why do you get to be boss?" Kain complained.

"Because I'm badass and you just got your ass handed to you by a girl, hey, hey, no, Caity, no!" Luke said, catching my arms and easily holding them still when I went to poke him in the side. "What I mean is that you're two are too scared of Caity for her to listen to you, and I'm older than all of you," Luke continued.

"By a month and a day," I grumble, warningly jerking my knee up, not actually hitting him, but getting him to leap away in fear.

"No. That's not even funny. Do you know how much that hurts?" he snapped, still holding my arms and poking me in the side.

"Sorry, sorry!" I squeal, finally getting away from him.

"Man, when I get back, I am going to sleep, and never getting up again," Michael complained.

"If we get back," Kain said.

"Hey, I'm the pessimist, not you," I say.

"No, I'm the pessimist, you're the realist. I don't know what the hell you two are," Luke said.

We faded into silence, walking into the town, spotting Barricade a couple more times, but he didn't bother us, so maybe he hadn't actually spotted us.

We somehow got lost again, well, not really somehow, I mean, none of us had ever been there before, but still. We turned up in some downtrodden part of the town, the sense of danger enough to get us to stick together.

Yes, it could be sexist of them, but they insisted that I stay in between them all, and yes, I willingly agreed to do so, because despite not being in bad shape at all, actually, I'm in pretty good shape if I do say so myself, I don't like actually harming people, and I probably would never be able to hold my own on my own, while my friends could all say that they could take on anyone if they worked together.

It was then, in that bad part of town, that police lights flashed, and a siren whooped, informing us that we had caught the wrong kind of attention of a cop.

"You four still out on your walk?" he asked skeptically.

I jumped, turning. My friends did as well, apprehension on all of our faces. "Yeah. It's a great day for a walk, isn't it, sir?" I ask.

"It's getting pretty late. Why don't you get along home?" he asked, but it sounded more like an order.

"Are you going to make us?" Luke challenged. I blinked at him, thinking he had gone insane. "Rule three," he reminded me quietly.

Right. Luke was boss. Whether I liked it or not, I wasn't going to be stubborn for once.

"I will," Barricade growled. Luke looked at him unimpressed and I crossed my arms nervously.

"How do you plan on doing that? You don't know where we live, and you don't know our parent's numbers, so you can't call them, I mean, really, you can't do anything," Kain said, stepping up to stand beside Luke.

"Yeah, and we're not scared of you," Michael said. I face-palmed, wishing that my friends weren't such idiots.

"Knock it off, stop pissing off the cop," I order. "Sorry, sir, we just want to walk a little bit longer, then we'll turn it," I say. "We're having some…. family troubles and needed to get away from that for a bit," I say.

Barricade looked at me, his expression telling me he didn't believe my story for a second. "All of you? You don't appear to be related?"

"We're adopted," Luke said, catching onto my idea. "My brothers and my sister and I are adopted," Luke said.

Barricade looked like he had grudging respect for us sticking to our story. He glared at us for another moment before driving slowly away.

When we saw him turn, four blocks away, we deemed it safe to talk again.

"Adopted?" I hiss.

"What, YOU are," Luke defended. "I had to think fast, alright?"

"We are never going to pull off being siblings," I say. "We're too different," I say.

"Well, just act normal. I mean, we kind of act like siblings…." Luke said, trying desperately to not be pessimistic.

I roll my eyes. "SURE we do," I say. "Well, the cop car looks to be perfectly fine, and a little bored, if he's pulling over kids, so I'm betting we're before the movie starts. Let's find Tranquility High. Maybe we can keep watch until it all passes, then ask the Autobots for help?" I say. Who am I kidding. Sam probably wouldn't take us seriously.

"Yeah… but, in the mean time, where are we going to sleep?" Kain asked.

Now that he mentioned it, I was exhausted. "I don't think it'll be a good idea to sleep, not with… that cop lurking around," I caution.

"I wish we were back home, then we could all just go home and we could meet up tomorrow," Kain said with a sigh.

"I couldn't," I say softly, thinking about how bad things had been at home when I was eight, my sister would have been nearing her first birthday.

The group was quiet for a moment, and Kain looked like he wanted to kick himself. "It doesn't matter, anyways, what would you say when they opened the door? Oh, hi, I'm your kid, but from a different universe and seven years in the future. Can I spend the night here?" I scoff.

"Oh… right," Kain said. I felt guilty for snapping at him, and I softened up a bit.

"Hey, it's not exactly easy to remember, is it? I mean, this stuff doesn't happen, except for in books," I say. Kain nods.

"And movies," he adds.

"Well, what about food?" Michael asks. I look at him.

"Did you bring any cash? I only have fifty on me right now," I say. I only had that because I had been planning on ordering a yearbook, forgetting until we were already driving that I had already ordered it.

"I have a hundred…" Michael said, checking his wallet. "Oh, an a free coupon for a soda at GetandGo."

"I have all my money with, I just cashed my paycheck," Luke said. "Plus the stuff I already had, I've got about two hundred and twenty five."

"I brought twenty five," Kain said.

"That's four hundred between all of us," I say.

"Good job, you can do math!" Kain said mockingly. I grab for him, but he dodges.

"Man, I don't want to spend all my money," Michael complained.

"I don't want to be stuck in this universe. Looks like we both might be out of luck," I hiss back at him.

"Hey, hey, hey, no need to get pissy, kitty-cat! Jeez," Michael said. I would have tackled him right there, but Luke held me back. I glared at Michael, who backed away in slight fear.

"Be nice, BOTH of you," Luke ordered. He left go of me, glaring at me warningly. I back away, raising my hands in surrender.

"So… shall we go get some pizza and hang out at a park until morning?" Kain asked.

"I'm going to lose the little sanity I have left," I mutter under my breath as I follow them.

We got our pizza, carrying the greasy circle in a box to a nearby park. One that I actually recognized.

"Hey, this is the lake that Sam goes to in the movie, the one where he sucks at pick-up lines," I whisper to them.

"Cool. So… maybe this won't turn out to be a total fluke," Kain said.

I bit into the pizza, wishing I had a little ranch to go with it, but too tired and hungry to care.

The guys talked as I slowly drifted off, one hand supporting my head, and the other curled up by my chest.


	3. Messages From Home

_**Hello lovelies! Thank you Guest SunnySides and HeartsGuardian Sol for your reviews! I hope you continue doing so!**_

"Caity… Caity… CAITY! Wake up!" Luke whispered to me, poking me harshly on the side. I snapped up, looking around, disorientated.

"What?" I asked.

"You fell asleep," he said. I glance up at the sky, which was pitch black except for the stars. I stared up at them in awe, amazed that people could believe that out of all of those suns, only ours had life. Of course, it could be true in the universe I actually am from, but it's not in this one.

"So? Why did you wake me up?"

"Kain and Michael fell asleep, too. I don't want to stay up by myself," Luke said, his eyes shifting to peer around the edges of the park, searching for any threats. I copied him, lingering as a police car passed by, but it said to serve and protect, so I knew it wasn't Barricade.

"So… what were you doing at eight years old?" I asked.

"Oh, you know the usual. Getting into fights, punching walls, arguing with my mom. Not much has changed," Luke said. "What about you?"

I hesitate, thinking. "Things hadn't gotten too bad yet. We had just moved a couple months ago, and my little sister would be just about to turn one," I say.

He nods, not pushing. "Whelp, good thing we're not a few states over, or else I would probably reak havoc on my family."

I grin, scanning around us again. My heart nearly stops beating as I spot an old yet familiar to us camaro, sitting quietly at the edge of the park.

"Should we say something?" Luke asks me, looking at the camaro as well.

"You don't think that it'll freak him out a bit?" I respond. "But you're the boss," I tease.

"Ha ha, wake up Kain and Michael, then," Luke said. I huff a sigh, but do it anyways. I had to slap my hand over Kain's mouth when he shouted in surprise at me nearly pushing him off of his seat, which was one of the swings that has the rollercoaster harnesses on it.

"Kain, shut up," I hiss. He nods slowly, and I wake Michael, which went considerably better, he already having the sense to not shout out.

"So, should we-" Kain began, but Luke and I shook our heads.

"Leave it. We're not getting involved. I don't have a death wish, nor do any of you," Luke says.

"Nor?" I ask, snickering.

"What? You say oi AND nor," he retorts.

"Yeah, but I have the literary accomplishments to back me up," I say.

"Do not!" Luke argued.

"When you have written over three chapters and posted them on and people actually like it, then you can say those words," I say smugly.

"Okay, now that's not fair. I'm not good at making up stories, I'm good at… writing not stories," he defended himself.

"Non-fiction, you mean?" I asked dryly, raising one eyebrow.

He clapped his hands, "Yeah, that's the word for it. That's what I said," he said. I rolled my eyes at his antics.

"Uh, if you two are done having you little sibling argument, then can we discuss the actual problem?" Kain interrupted.

"Not with him listening in. Which he probably is doing," I say. I begin walking to the the lake, walking along the edge. I can see the sun just coming up, so it must be at least six in the morning…. actually, I don't know that…. I'm pretty sure that the movie took place closer to summer than fall…..

"Anyone know what month it is?" I ask.

"You don't?" Michael asked, as though it should be obvious.

"It's May," Luke said, glancing at his phone. Wow, I felt kind of dumb. Our phones would automatically turn to the date.

I pulled out my phone, seeing about ten messages on it.

**From: Meghan**

**Are you ready to go, yet?**

**From: Meghan**

**Sweetie, where are you?**

**From: Meghan**

**Caity, answer your phone!**

**From: Meghan**

**Caity, the police are out looking for you…. please come home.**

**From: Jason**

**Caity, I don't know if you still have your phone, but the police are suspecting kidnapping. Please call and tell me you're safe.**

**From: Kayla**

**Caity- your dad called. He's worried. He asked if you were with me. What's going on?**

**From: Shelby**

**Caity! PLEASE!**

**From: Meghan**

**When you get this… if you get this, please, tell your friends you have people looking for you.**

**From: Ellie**

**Where are you?**

**From: Meghan**

**Please come home soon. The boys just found out and they're scared. Please come home.**

I looked at my missed calls as well. Fifty four, and most of them from my aunt, and the other majority from my sisters, I even got a missed call from Keegan. My poor cousins, they were scared for me?

"Guys! Guys!" I hiss.

"What?"

"The… Time is still going on with them. They've got the police looking for us, and… my god, I think everyone in my family is looking for me, and most of our friends. My dad even called. Guys, what if we can't get back? Or we get back too late? We get back and like twenty years have passed, and they've given up looking for us and-" I stopped, hyperventilating.

"Whoa, calm down, Caity. We'll get back. Don't worry. We WILL get back," Luke assured.

"Well, we WERE sorta kidnapped…. just… by a little device that…. sorta put us in a different dimension," Michael said.

"Holy shit, my mom's going to kill me!" Kain said, checking his own phone and the number of missed calls and messages on his own phone.

"We are soooooo dead," Luke said, scrolling through his messages.

"Dude, I left my phone in the cafe," Michael said.

My head snapped up, an idea forming. "Do you think if we texted it, it would get through?"

Only one way to find out. I texted his phone.

**To: Michael**

**Is this Michael's phone?**

We waited five minutes before we got a reply.

**From: Michael**

**Yes, this is the police. Are you Caity?**

"Guys, guys it worked!" I said excitedly.

**To: Michael**

**YES! We… we don't know where we are, but we're okay. We didn't even think to check our phones until now!**

**From: Michael**

**Who is with you?**

**To Michael:**

**Me, Luke, Michael, and Kain**

**From Michael**

**And you say that you are alright? We have tried calling, and it is not working.**

**To Michael:**

**We can only reply through text to this phone, or else we would have called.**

I felt kind of bad for lying, but it was necessary. I mean, who would believe that we got sent into a movie?

**From Michael:**

**Stay calm. We have people out looking for you. We will inform your families that you are alright.**

I sigh in relief, powering down my phone to conserve battery. Good thing I had thought to bring the charger with me, randomly sitting in my sweatshirt pocket.

"Hey, it's okay," Luke said again to all of us.

"You know, it's not really conspicuous when you move to follow a person, and you don't have a driver driving," I muttered towards the camaro, which had crept down the road closer to us.

The car flashed its lights, and I glared at it, debating.

"Who wants to go say hi?" I ask.

The guys looked at me incredulously.

"What?"

"You were just saying that we weren't getting involved," Kain said.

"Yeah, and I also was just talking to police in another dimension seven years in the future," I said, standing up and stretching.

"And if I say no?" Luke asked.

"Then I'm rebelling against this tyranny," I informed him, giving them a mock salute before walking over to the camaro. "Hello, Bumblebee. I'm Caity."

Luke raced over, Kain and Michael close behind, glaring at me. "So much for not having a death wish," he spat.

I shrugged. Bee's radio came to life. "Howdy, strangers!"

"Have you met Sam yet?" I asked.

"Do I know you?" his radio buzzed.

"Uh, no. You see, we are from a different dimension, seven years in the future, and this dimension is just a movie for us. We were watching it at school, and then we saw this metal device-thingy….. anyways, we thought it was a project someone had done, and we were messing around with it, trying to figure out what it was, and the next thing we know, we're stuck in the movie and everyone back home thinks that we've been kidnapped," I explain.

A low whistling sound came from a clip, sounding impressed. "Suddenly my life doesn't seem so bad…"

I light up, being the nerd that I am. "Did you just quote X-Men?"

I got an affirmative chirp, and I gave a little screech of delight.

"You are such a nerd," Michael said.

"Yeah, but I'm a cool nerd, so I can get away with it," I say.

"Who says you're cool?" he challenged.

"Well, I hang out with you guys, don't I?" I reply. I look at the sky, which was now completely light.

He glared at me, unable to deny my comment without saying that he himself wasn't cool. Kain high fived me, and I grinned, once again besting MIchael in one of our frequent verbal battles.

"E.T. phone home," Bee said.

"Check our phones?" I asked. He chirped in agreement. I turned my phone back on, surprised by the amount of new messages I have.

**From: Dad**

**We'll get you home.**

**From: Ellie**

**Stay safe. Don't do anything stupid. Don't run your mouth, okay?**

**From: Shelby**

**YOU IDIOT! Keep talking, annoy them until they let you go.**

**From: Meghan**

**Thank God you're safe! We're praying for you!**

**From: Jason**

**We'll get you home. Hang on.**

**From: Kayla**

**You are so dead when you get back! I can't believe you let yourself get kidnapped!**

I gave a hysterical little laugh at the last one. It was just like her to blame me, not truly, but blame to lighten the mood.

**To: Michael**

**Can you please tell my family that I got their messages, and that I love them all? No matter what has happened in the past?**

I powered down my phone once more, a few tears of joy escaping my eyes. "I can't tell you how much I love technology right now."

"You would be surprised," Bee intoned.

"Well, we'll see you around. We want to move before Barricade decides to pass by and sees us again. Oh, and hush hush about this, no one else knows we're here, and 'Cade thinks that we're siblings…. so, get out of here," I order.

Not five minutes after we left the park had we seen Barricade pass by it slowly. Luckily, we were in a diner and eating a breakfast of pancakes and eggs. We watched through the window, joking around quietly so as not to attract any attention to ourselves.

"So… we're gonna be here for probably a couple more days. Want to mess with the movie? We could go give Trent hell for being an ass," I say, tilting my head pleadingly.

"Wouldn't that ruin the timeline?" Luke asked, fingering his Tardis necklace.

"Yes, it would. So?"

"Wouldn't that affect the outcome of the movie?" he asked.

"Yeah…. But I didn't like the ending anyways," I reply with a shrug of my shoulders.

We mostly wandered around Tranquility that day, staying clear of Barricade and close to the park. When the sun started to set, we saw Sam pull up in Bumblebee, arguing with talking to Miles. I already knew what was being said, so I came up with the idea of making Trent's life miserable for a little bit.

"Tag, you're It!" I cried, taking off. Luke was froze for a moment before taking off after me, trying to get away from Kain, who was It. Michael started running as well. I purposely ran right into Trent, making the guy fall to the ground, just as he was about to insult Sam.

"Oh, man, hey, I am so sorry!" I said, acting my ass off, because on the inside, I was laughing my head off.

"Watch where you're going, kid," he snapped.

"Kid? You're like, a year older than me," I scoffed.

"I'm sixteen, brat. What are you twelve?" Trent spat.

"Even if I was, I would still beat your mentality, and for your information, I'm fifteen," I spat, rolling my eyes.

"What the hell did you say about me?" he snarled, taking a step towards me and raising a beefy fist.

"You're gonna hit a girl? Man, that is not a good idea. Did your mother never teach you manners?" Luke asked, stepping in front of me and getting in the football player's face.

"Keep your girl under control," Trent spat, taking a step back.

"She's not my girl, she's my sister. And with your attitude, I'm surprised you even are privileged enough to get a girl to date you. You're nothing but trash," Luke countered.

Trent swung his fist, but Luke dodged, swinging his own and landing it squarely on the bully's jaw.

Trent went down, holding his jaw in pain, but he got back up, coming back at Luke. Luke may be fast, but he wasn't fast enough and his shirt was grabbed.

Trent pulled his fist back again, only to get hit in the shin with a kick. "Hey, asshole, leave him alone," Michael spat. Trent elbowed him away, knocking the slim boy to the ground. But, of course, he was only buying Luke time to recover.

Kain threw a couple of punches, only stopping when he himself got punched in the eyes and a split lip.

They weren't being unfair about it, taking him on all at once, but rather going one at a time.

Trent had a black eye by the time all three boys decided that it would be a good time to retreat, conversing easily with each other, actually complimenting some of the bully's hits.

"Asshole," I spat, going to walk by. He grabbed my arm and twisted it around. I grinned and twisted, turning it around on him, stomping on the foot, kicking out the knee, dislocate the wrist, break the thumb, elbow to the stomach, kick to the family jewels. Trent was left groaning on the ground, thoroughly beaten. I turned back to the guys, who had gone to stand beside next to Sam.

They all, including Sam, had matching expressions of sympathetic horror.

"Jesus, Caity, you just don't do that to a guy!" Michael squeaked out, backing up when I grinned evilly.

"Don't get in my way then, and you'll be able to have children still," I said. I went over, Miles actually going so far as running, while Kain and Michael hid behind the tree. Luke gave me a high five, and Sam quickly got into Bumblebee for protection.

"Hey. She's not gonna go for him now, he just tried beating not only a kid, but a girl. She's open. Go after her. Drive her home. But um…. lay off the pick up lines," I warned to him kindly. I smiled at Mikaela, who smiled back at me.

"This is why I'm second in command," I say to Kain and Michael as I pass them. They look at Luke, who shrugs and smiles.

"She's right."

We goofed off for the rest of the day, still keeping careful watch for Barricade, who had seen the fight, I know because we saw him entering the scene after we left and arresting Trent for attempting to attack a girl. He must have been very bored.

The next morning, I woke the guys up from where they had fallen asleep at the park again, reminding them that we had a fight to get to. We had found the parking structure in which Barricade would confront Sam at, and were soon sitting in it, waiting patiently for them to arrive.

"Bee needs more tact in introducing himself to people," Kain commented as Sam ran in.

"Oi, Sam! Move your ass and get away from the cop!" I called.

"Oi?" Luke asked.

"Shut up," I grumble.

Sam raced over, looking like Satan's Camaro was chasing him. I giggle at the thought.

"Hey, Satan," I said to Luke.

"Hmm?" he replied, used to me bringing the joke he had started up.

"Satan's Camaro," I said. He cracked up laughing.

"If only we knew," he said. Sam finally got over to us, breathing heavily.

"Guys, you have… have to get out of here!" he urged.

"Nah, you do. That's a dirty cop. A Decepticon, to be exact. By the way, the thing that you'll be looking for in your room is in the kitchen," I tell him.

Barricade snarled and transferred, nearly stepping on us as he did. I looked up at him, unimpressed.

"Ooooh, big robot. Tiny processor," I mock.

"Where are the glasses?" he snarled. Maybe not such a small processor if he was asking me and not Sam.

"Well, I COULD tell you, but you know what, that would ruin the surprise. You know what? My muscles are feeling tight. I think me and my friends are going to take a nice long run away from you," I said, dashing away, the guys slightly ahead of me. Sam taking out Mikaela on her bike was a little painful to see, but soon we were all piled into Bumblebee's interior, which was surprisingly roomy.

"Hey, nice save," Michael complimented. "Cutting it a little close, but nice save."

I smacked the back of his head. "He just saved our lives, dumbass, be nice," I admonished. I felt the car shake, almost as though Bee was laughing. "Besides, we're not out of the woods, yet. Still have the cop chase, remember?"

"C-cop chase?" Sam all but whimpers. "H-how do you guys know that?"

"Oh, well, we sorta accidentally went from our dimension into yours…. and this is sorta a movie in our dimension….. So…. yeah," I said awkwardly.

"I think that's weirder than the whole alien robot thing," Sam said.

"Yeah, except, we already who's going to die," Luke said seriously. Bee almost slammed on the brakes, but he continued at the last second. I looked at the sky, noting the fast coming darkness.

"Looks like we're almost at the construction site," Kain said.

"Really? You don't know anything about the movie, yet you remember the construction site?" I ask.

"What? You can't remember what you ate for breakfast yesterday, and you remember everything about the movie!" Kain snapped.

"I liked the movie! And I remember! I had…. I had poptarts for breakfast yesterday…?"

"Are you sure?"

"No," I admitted.

"Exactly,"Kain said, crossing his arms triumphantly.

I can easily say that rolling out of a car and down a hill hurts, but it is the funnest thing ever. Sam and Mikaela didn't agree with me, especially when Frenzy came into play.

"Shit," Michael said, jumping away while Luke, Kain and I worked to pull Frenzy off of Sam.

"Bad, Frenzy! Let go of the human!" I scold.

"Really?" Luke asked me, smirking.

When Mikaela chopped off Frenzy's head, I stopped Sam from kicking it away in favor of stomping it into the ground, completely crushing it, then using the saw to completely shred the rest of his frame.

"I- wha- you can't do that! You'll mess up the movie!" Kain protested.

"I know, but I'm saving lives," I protest.

"And giving them extra time to contact the air force," Luke reasoned.

"Would you guys stop that?" Sam asked hysterically.

"What?" we all ask.

"Hinting about the future and acting like it's no big deal that you know it!" Sam answered.

"By the way, Bee is not Japanese. He's from Cybertron. An alien. He speaks through the radio. And he would never hurt you," I reveal, turning and walking back to where Bumblebee was waiting for us.

"Nice job!" I say.

"So… you aren't going to hurt us?" Sam asked, still not sure. I rolled my eyes.

"Negative," Bumblebee replied from the radio.

"How about we go meet your friends?" I ask. Bee nods, clapping his hands and transforming. We piled in the back while Sam used yet another cheesy pick-up line to get Mikaela to come along.

Right on time, in the tunnel, we got tossed out from Mikaela's comment, and Bee came back in his new alt-mode, astounding Sam and Mikaela. We were all laughing from their reactions.

"You guys knew this would happen?" Sam asked. We gave him a duh look, and he shut up.


	4. Kiddies, Meet the Autobots Oh Dear

_**Hello again, another chappie, just for you guys! I hope you like it, because there is a ton more to come!**_

No matter how many times I had seen it in the movie, I was still speechless with the meteor shower. Then I started laughing as I remembered Ironhide's landing.

"Alright, who broke her?" Luke asked, poking my side. I look up at the sky again and compose myself.

"Ironhide. Landing. Tooth Fairy," I managed before I burst out laughing once more. My friends thought about this before snorting with laughter as well.

"Oh, god, he's going to blast us!" Luke said. Of course, the ones from this dimension had no idea what we were talking about.

"Do-don't mind us. You don't get to see it," I say.

"Um… okay?" Mikaela said. When we got into the alley where Sam and Mikaela meet the Autobots, we calmly waited against the wall while Sam and Mikaela stuck near Bee.

I burst out laughing at the sight of Ironhide, setting off my friends. "Would you guys stop that?" Sam snapped.

We finally had ourselves composed by the time the last Autobot arrived, though we were still grinning like idiots.

"Are you Samuel James Witwicky, descendant of Archibald Witwicky?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah?" Sam said.

"I am Optimus Prime, Leader of the Autobots. We are here on Earth, searching for the All Spark, and we need your help."

"My first lieutenant, Jazz," he said as Jazz transformed.

"What's crackin' little bitches," he asked, "this looks like a cool place to kick it."

"You won't be thinking that tomorrow," I mutter. Luke clamped his hand over my mouth.

"No, no yelling at him, he hasn't even done it yet. You'll ruin the timeline," Luke warned.

I bit his hand, causing him to flinch and let go. "It would be a better timeline!" I protested.

"Yeah, but…."

"Did you hear how sad Ironhide was when he told Prime that they couldn't save him, and how heart, or rather, sparkbroken Ratchet was because they couldn't save him?" I snap.

"Uugh! You can't tell them that! You're messing up the timeline!" Luke protested.

"I don't care!" I said.

"Well, you should! What if you messing with the timeline means that we can't get back to our own dimension!" Kain butted in.

"Don't even say that, Kain. That's not funny at all," I snarl darkly.

"It's your fault, anyways!" Michael snapped.

"One, how was I supposed to know what it was going to do, and drop it for now, we have other things to do," I snap, turning away.

"Whatever," Kain said.

"Sorry, we kind of ruined your introductions. Anyways, to catch everyone up, because you guys are clearly confused, we're in the wrong dimension, also from seven years in the future, plus in our dimension, this is a movie, hence the reason why we are casually talking about stuff in your guy's future so…. casually. I'm Caity, that's Luke with the ginger hair, the blond one is Kain, and the absurdly tall and annoying one is Michael," I snapped, still annoyed with them to be nice.

The bots seemed taken aback. "Oh, and the glasses are in Sam's kitchen," I said, glaring challengingly at Luke, who glared back at me, but didn't comment.

"Okay…. now that she's done with her rant… I think it's safe for you guys to continue your introductions," Kain said, eying me warily.

"Ironhide, my weapon's specialist," Optimus said after a pause.

"Keep the cannons fired down, Tooth Fairy," I warned. He looked extremely taken aback, and Luke once again clamped his hand over my mouth, wincing but otherwise ignoring me when I bit him.

"Ignore her, she get's really sarcastic when mad," he said.

"My Commanding Medical Officer, Ratchet," Optimus said after an even longer pause. I glared fiercely at Ratchet, daring him to make a comment. He didn't. "And you all already know Bumblebee, Sam's guardian. Like Caity said, we need your grandfather's glasses to know where the cube is. Unless Caity wishes to share where that is as well?" Optimus asked. I went to nod, but Luke shook his head no.

"Rule three, Caity," he reminded.

"Rule one, Luke," I growled, but it came out as more of a mumble.

"You won't kill me," Luke said with a roll of his eyes.

"We need to move," Optimus prompted, still wary of us.

I bit down as hard as I could on Luke's hand, making him yelp and let go, blood spilling from where I had broken skin.

"Damnit, Caity! That hurt!" he snapped, shaking his hand vigorously in an attempt to ward off the pain.

I clamp my hand over my mouth. I had not meant to bite him that hard. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, Luke, I didn't mean to bite you that hard!"

"Well, gee, nice to know that," he said sarcastically.

I bit back a retort as Sam gave a long sigh of annoyance. "Separate," he ordered.

"Can't, rule number two," I said, getting closer to the guys defensively, as though I were enough to keep the bots from separating us.

"You guys actually came up with rules?" Sam asked.

"Three of them," Kain supplied.

"Number one, don't get killed, number two, don't get separated, number three, Luke is boss," Michael added.

"Those are… pretty good rules, actually," Sam admitted. Bee honked, alerting us that they were still waiting for us to get in.

"Oh, right, sorry," we all mumbled, going towards Bee.

Optimus stopped us with a long sigh. "There is more room in my cab than Bumblebee's. Get in, but please cease your bickering," he said.

I stared at him in shock, Luke doing the same. Michael didn't get why it was such a good idea, and Kain just wanted to leave.

"Optimus, I believe that Luke and Caity have stopped breathing," Bee informed us. Had I? It felt like I had.

I forced myself to breathe shakily, Luke doing the same next to me. "Uh, I'm sorry, I think I hallucinated for a second, did you just ask four highly irresponsible and hyper, not to mention dirty, teens to get into your cab? I must have been hearing things," I said.

"You heard correctly, though I used less words. Please hurry up, we are on a schedule," Optimus said patiently.

"Cool!" I said, claiming shotgun, while the guys sat in the back. None of us would sit in the driver's seat, much to the confusion of Optimus.

"I don't understand," he said plainly.

"We can't sit there, you're driving," I said. "A cop could pull us over for sitting there."

"But… why?"

"Because kids can't drive semis, and definitely not kids who don't have driver's licenses," Luke said.

"But, you would not be driving…" Optimus said.

"We know, but it would LOOK like we were driving," Kain explained.

Optimus vented, and we could hear a whirring noise, and suddenly there was a man sitting in the driver's seat. My surprise caused me to jump and hit my funny bone, which is actually a nerve, on the door.

"My apologies, I did not wish to startle you. Are you alright?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I just hit my funny bone," I say. Of course that lead to us explaining what that was to Optimus for the rest of the trip.

Sam and Mikaela had just gotten the glasses and were about to come out when we ran in. I peaked through the window and saw the Autobots pulling out, and remembered Sector Seven.

"Sam! We've got a problem!" I shout, racing into his kitchen, being met with the shocked faces of Sam's parents. "Oh, sorry Mr. and Mrs. Witwicky, I didn't mean to interrupt anything, Sam is helping us," I pause and gesture to the guys, "with a project that we're doing on Arctic Explorers and he was going to lend us his grandfather's glasses, because Archibald Witwicky was such a famous explorer," I lie smoothly.

"Really, Sammy? Oh, that's so nice of you!" Judy said.

Sam's face went red, but he managed to answer convincingly. "Yeah, I didn't want to make a big deal out of it or anything…" he mumbled.

There was a knock at the door. I wanted to protest Ron going to answer it, but didn't on account of the look Luke was giving me.

I watched the agents pour in, and me and my friends defensively stood in front of Sam and Mikaela.

"Want to move aside, kiddies?" Simmons sneered.

"Why don't you go back to working at the meat shop and your mother living with you, oh wait, has that not happened yet? Don't worry. It will," I sneer right back.

"You find this funny, kid?" he snarled.

"I find funny things funny," I said, not backing down.

"Miss, I am a government agent, listen and step aside or I will have you locked up for aiding a criminal," he snapped.

"How can a person who doesn't exist take orders from an agency that doesn't exist?" I ask, confusing him.

"By the way, nice Sector Seven undershirt. Real discreet about being a part of a secret agency," Luke sneered.

"Man, you have got to get some better clothes," Kain added.

"Do you let your mom pick them out for you still," Michael asked. We all turned on him.

"No. Just.. no. You don't insult someone's mother. That is just taking it too far. Mothers are goddesses, and don't you forget that," I say, shaking my head in disgust. "Ugh, now I almost want to listen, if only to apologize for his stupidity," I say.

"Thank you. Now move out of my way, or I will make you, young lady," he snapped.

"Oh, I assure you, I am not a lady. I'm far from it. I also have a bit of an authority problem, so I'm going to say no to your request," I say.

"It wasn't a request," he snapped. "You know something, too, don't you?" he snapped.

"Right now? I know everything. I know where you'll be stopped, I know when there will be a fight, I know every come back you will use, and I also know where Sector Seven is located, I know who the Director is, and I know about what you've been really doing there," I say confidently, taking a step towards him. The guys did the same, forming a wall from Sam and him.

He pulls out his little scanner thing, and this is the part that surprised me. It broke. I mean, it literally broke. Smoke and everything. He stared up at us in shock. We stared at the thing in shock.

"Okay, I didn't know that was gonna happen," I said.

"Tag 'em and bag 'em," he snapped, and suddenly more agents were there, grabbing for us.

"I knew you were going to say that," I muttered as Luke and I fought some agents back to back. Never was I more grateful for the couple months of Taekwondo that I had taken, almost a year ago, but still close enough away that I remembered to keep my arms up and to use quick, precise movements.

"When we get out of here, I'm blaming you for us being "kidnapped"," Luke snapped as he took a punch to the jaw.

"So am I," I reply. He snorts and punches a guy in the stomach, while I knee another one. That left about two more agents trying to deal with us. I look over for Kain and Michael, and see that they aren't doing too badly themselves, while Sam and Mikaela have already been taken into custody.

"You know, I might have to rethink my plan for joining the army," I say to Luke.

"You're going to join the army?" he snaps, not with anger or anything, just with disapproval.

"Yeah, why not?" I ask.

"You could, I don't know, DIE?" he retorted, finally taking out the agent, just after I dispatch my own.

"Yeah, but it would be for keeping other people alive," I say. "And I said that I might need to rethink my plan," I reminded.

"Or, you know, not do it," he says. We dash over to help Kain and Michael, three agents on them, all quickly incapacitated.

"Can you get charged with a felony if you aren't from this dimension?" I ask dryly, looking at the number of groaning men.

"Um… I don't want to find out," Kain said. I grab Sam's backpack, pulling out the glasses case. I throw my sweatshirt back on, tucking it into the big pocket in the middle, knowing that it wouldn't fall out. Just to be safe, I grabbed a stapler and stapled the pockets shut.

"You got the glasses?" Luke asks.

"Yes I got the glasses," I say. We take off running, racing to the freeway, realizing that we had forgotten to warn Bumblebee of what was going to happen.

"Oh no… we're too late," I sob. I could see them taking Bumblebee away, his piercing screams heartbreaking.

I clamp my hand over my mouth, tears falling. "I can't believe that I forgot to tell them…"

"You weren't supposed to tell them anything at all! This is supposed to happen. It's how the cube gets out of the Dam and where they meet the soldiers," Luke soothes.

"We still need to get them the glasses," I say.

"Right. It looks like they've left, so let's get to the Autobots," Kain said.

We take off again, me sniffing and holding back tears, and failing at that task, until we reached them.

I carefully take out the staples and hand over the glasses, refusing to look at the Autobots, to ashamed.

"Why are you leaking, little one?" Jazz asked. I shook my head, pulling my hood over my head and tucking my hands in the middle pocket.

"She's…? Oh, oh, she's crying, not leaking," Michael said in realization. I wipe away the incriminating tears and sniff.

"I am NOT crying, I… got hit in the eye and… yeah, no, I've got nothing," I say softly. I really had gotten hit in the eyes, and now had a black eye, but it wasn't anything I hadn't had before. "I'm crying because I'm an idiot," I finally inform Jazz. "Not as big of an idiot as you are, but I'm still an idiot."

"How do ya figure tha' out?" Jazz asked.

"It's my fault we're stuck in this dimension, and it's my fault that we didn't warn Bumblebee of what was going to happen. If… gaah," I scream into my arm, the sound muffled. I take a shaky breath. "If we had just told you where the Cube and Megatron are, then this whole thing would be over and done with," I say.

"Hey, if it's anyone's fault for Bee, it's me. I told you that you couldn't tell them," Luke said.

"Would you let me wallow in self hatred for once in my life," I snap.

"Nope," he said, lightly poking my side.

"Okay. Now that they have the glasses, can I tell them where the Cube is and why they can't sense it?"

"Fine, yes, you can tell them," Luke said.

"Great, it's at the Hoover Dam, and you can't sense it because of how think the concrete is, it's like it is buried at the edge of the Earth's crust," I say.

"Well that would have been helpful a while ago, yeah," Jazz said dryly.

"And before Satan can cut me off, don't even think about going after Megatron by yourself, because he will literally tear you in two. Like, you asked him if he wanted a piece of you, and he tore you in two, saying no, he wanted two," I said. Luke clapped his hand over my mouth again.

"That would explain what ya was arguin' about earlier," Jazz said thoughtfully. "No goin' against Megatron by myself, ya say? Alrigh', I can do that."

"Do we get Bumblebee back?" Ironhide asks.

"Yeah. Sam gets him out, and the Cube. You'll meet up with him on the road while going to the Hoover Dam. But, you guys might want to leave now," I say.

"She is right. Autobots, roll-out," Optimus said. Kain and Luke grin.

"Man, we've been waiting for him to say that all day!" Kain says.

"You four are riding with me. You have acquired injuries from your encounter with those government agents," Ratchet informed us sternly.

"If you think we look bad," I begin.

"You should see the other guys," the guys chime in, sending us in peals of laughter.

"You.. you won't get, I don't think. I think that might just be from our universe," I say.

"I'll have to use that sometime," Ironhide mused.

"Alright, alright, enough fooling around. Get in," Ratchet growled. We stopped laughing immediately, and I personally was nervous. I don't like going to the doctors, even when I need it.

"Primus, is there anyplace you did NOT get an injury? You are all covered in bruises!" Ratchet exclaimed, a holoform examining us. "Caity, you have nerve damage in your left arm," he also noted.

"Oh, yeah don't worry about that, I have shingles in that arm…. as for the places we did not get injured…" I say.

"There are many places we did not get injured. They weren't aiming to harm, they were aiming to… um… what's the word… Caity, what word am I looking for?"

I raise my eyebrow. "Um, apprehend? Restrain? Arrest?" I try.

"Restrain," Luke said. "They were aiming to restrain us, not actually harm us," he finished.

"You are mere children. They did not have to use such brute force," Ratchet disagreed.

"Well, it's not like we were holding back. I can't believe we even managed it," I admit.

"It's probably because we're kids and they were under orders to bring us in alive, and probably awake, so they didn't fight as hard, because I bet that all of those guys have training in taking out a person," Michael supplied helpfully. I sigh in annoyance.

"We have a long trip to take. If you start bickering now, then you will probably not cease, therefore, do not start it," Ratchet growled.

"So… what are we supposed to do, then?" Michael asked cheekily. I glare and flick him on the ear, causing him to duck. "Hey, hey, hey, no need for violence!"

"You're like Deadpool! If I don't ignore you, you spout the stupidest crap ever! One of these days, I'm going to ducktape your mouth shut," I say matter-of-factly.

Michael stared at me for a second. "You can be really scary, you know that? Really scary. Especially when you say stuff like that," he said.

"Be happy I didn't threaten to tie you to a chair and force you to read Shakespeare all day," I say. He looked at me with wide eyes.

"You wouldn't," he said.

"Of course I wouldn't, dummy. No one deserves that torture. Even I needed a dictionary for that thing.. that monstrosity we read in English last year, Romeo and Juliet," I say, shuddering at the thought.

"I know, right? I mean, that was just awful!" Kain said, eagerly joining into the conversation.

"It wasn't that bad," Luke said. Me, Kain, and Michael gave him a look. "What? It made it so we could listen music the entire time of class, which was like, two hours," he said.

"True," I said. "But, still. It was horrible," I say.

"You were allowed to listen to music in class?" Ratchet asked curiously.

"Different universe in the future says that music stimulates the brain and makes it easier to learn," I say.

"What else is it like in your world?" Ratchet asked.

"Well… Unlike in this universe, where the government stole technology from Megatron when they find him on ice, and create the modern world with that technology, we are actually smart enough to invent all of the modern age stuff ourselves. Though, the economy is crap, and the pollution sucks, and the oceans are becoming slowly more acidic, deforestation, a lot of keystone species are dying off, and I have no respect for the government because of the scum that make it up," I say.

"That sounds…. awful," Ratchet said.

I shake my head. "I'd rather be there than here. A lot of people die here, and they don't need to," I say sadly.

"And yet you want to join the army," Luke said, bringing up the subject again.

"You remember what I said to Michael about reading Shakespeare? Keep it up and I'll do it to you," I say lightly.

"Why is it a problem if she wishes to join the military?" Ratchet asked, confused.

"Because she could die?" Luke said as though it were obvious.

"And I could die in a car crash every single day. I still get into the car, don't I?" I say.

"Yeah, but that's different. You take steps to keep yourself safe, you put on your seatbelt, you don't distract the driver, and you don't mess around," Luke said.

I look at all of us, including Ratchet, who does as well. None of us are wearing seatbelts. We are definitely distracting the driver. And just moments before with Michael, I had been messing around. I blink. Then I stand up and climb into the shotgun seat, fasten my seatbelt, and quietly looked out the window.

"You do realize that that is not necessary, correct?" Ratchet asks.

"I know. But I'm proving a point to Satan over there. I can take measures to protect myself, and if I join the military, I would as well," I say.

"Satan? Is he not the bringer of evil in your myths?" Ratchet asks.

"Oh, yeah, but there's a myth that people with red hair, or gingers, don't have souls. It's an on running joke that Luke is Satan because Luke could be a nick-name for Lucifer, and because he would take people's souls in place of his own lacking one," I explained.

"You do not… actually steal people's souls… do you?" Ratchet asked.

"No, of course not. It's just a joke, and sometimes blackmail if you're good enough friends, like with Caity," Luke said.

"You don't have my soul any more. Remember, I bought it back!" I protest.

"Did you?" he asked.

"Yeah, in orange juice," I reply.

"Did you really give her back her soul for ORANGE JUICE? Man, then I should have my soul back, too!" Kain protested.

"Uh, no, because you never ASKED for it in exchange. She did. It's not my fault she's smarter than you," Luke said.

"I'm not smarter than him. I just observed that trading OJ to get you to do stuff had worked in the past, so I used that same tactic. It still works for getting you to not poke me in the sides for a day," I say.

"That's sounds like it's smarter to me," Michael muttered. "Also, you're a bossy know-it-all, it kind of lends to that as well."

"Well sor-ry if my actual participation in class gets on your nerves. And I don't know it all. If you hadn't noticed that I'm often wrong. I'm just brave enough to know that I could be wrong and speak so it can be explained so I'm not wrong again," I say sheepishly.

"That's, like, so much effort though. And I'm too lazy to do that," he says.

"That's okay. I'm too lazy to actually put forth the effort to check over the work that I put down," I say with a smile. Me and the guys share a chuckle, knowing that it was something all of us did.

Ratchet make a disapproving noise.

"What?" We all ask at the same time.

"You should pay more attention to your studies, they will help you in life," he said.

"Ugh, you're starting to sound like one of our teachers," I groan.

"Yeah, but, we like our teachers, so is that really a bad thing?" Luke said.

"I was trying to make it sound like a bad thing," I snap.

"Yeah, but… you love school… how can you make it sound like a bad thing?" Kain asks.

"I don't know. Maybe I could go on and on about all the drama that's going on, or about who's dating who," I gasp dramatically. We hold ourselves together for a second before we all burst out laughing.

"Yeah, sure, that'll be the day that you start one of those conversations instead of ending them," Kain laughs. Ratchet quite suddenly slammed on the brakes and turned around, sending the guys slamming into one side of the vehicle while I stayed safe and sound, my seat belt tightening and keeping me from getting jostled.

"And you said it wasn't necessary," I say with a grin as the guys groaned.

"Yes, you did," Ratchet said.

"To Mission City, then," I say.

"Indeed. It is still startling that you already know our fate before we ourselves do," Ratchet said.

"We messed with the timeline. Things aren't happening the same way. Who knows if the battle will go the same way as well," I say sagely.

"If it included a death of one of our ranks, than I hope that it does not," Ratchet said.

"Yeah, we do too, though having the same outcome would be nice," I say.

::Ratchet, Sam and Mikaela wish to know if the children are safe.:: Bumblebee's voice came through the radio.

"Yes, Bumblebee, they are safe in my alt-mode. They insist that they are fine, though they are heavily bruised. Caity also has the virus known to humans commonly as shingles, but she insists that is fine as well," Ratchet replied.

"I'm okay, it's been there for a couple of months now," I insist.

::Sam sends his condolences to Caity, and they are both pleased that you are all alright.:: Bumblebee said.

"Okay great, now, can someone deal with Barricade?" I snap, seeing the cop car in the rear view mirror.


	5. Change is Not Always a Good Thing

_**Well, here you go, a little on the short side, but I hope you still like it! Here it is!**_

Like clockwork, Ironhide and Ratchet worked together to stop the Decepticon, though we got a little, or a lot, tossed around in the process. By the time that we finally stopped, I felt like I had just gone on a rollercoaster. Just so you know, I hate rollercoasters.

I try to unclick my seatbelt, ready to hop out the moment Ratchet comes to a complete stop, but it stubbornly stayed.

"Uh, Ratchet? Could you let the seatbelt unclick?" I ask.

"After I lay down some rules. You are to stay near the soldiers, you are not to participate in the battle, and you are not allowed to provoke the Decepticons. Understood?" Ratchet growled.

I look at the guys. They look at me. An understanding passed between us. No way were we sitting this thing out. "Understood, Ratchet," I said.

"I thought Luke was the boss of you four?" Ratchet asked.

"There has been a temporary change in leadership," I reply smoothly. The guys nod in agreement.

My seatbelt unclicks and slides off, and the door opens. I tumble out as Ratchet tilts the seat to the side, similar to the way the guys were expelled.

"And now we're going back to Luke being boss," I say. "What are our orders, sir?" I asked with mock energy, as though I were a soldier about to enter battle.

"Basically do everything that Ratchet said not to do, but still follow the rules," he said.

"Our rules or his rules?" Kain asked.

"Our rules," Michael snapped.

"Let's go," Luke said.

"Wait, I'm going to change the timeline again!" I call, running away from them.

I rush over to Bumblebee, hugging his leg. "I am so sorry that I didn't warn you, but now I'm warning you about a different thing. When Blackout fires, stay on the left side and let Ironhide take the right. His frame is more durable than yours," I say. He nods, before I run over to Jazz.

"Hey, ya look awful," Jazz says.

"Yeah, I know, but if you decide to take on Megatron, I'll look better than you do no matter how much wax and polish you use," I warn, shaking a finger at him.

"Hey, hey, kid, what the hell are you doing here?" Lennox asked me.

"Oh, sorry Captain Lennox. I was just warning him not to take on Megatron alone," I say.

"And you are?" he snapped.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Caity. I'm from a different dimension. I would love to stay and chat, but there's sort of a battle about to happen, so, bye!" I say, dashing around him and back to the guys, who shake their heads.

"Okay, so, anything that we should do first?" Luke asks.

"Well, Ratchet is watching us-oof!" I begin to say when I was knocked to the ground from the knockback of Blackout's shot. "Ratchet is watching us, so get the civilians out for now, it'll also help the soldiers have less things to worry about," I finish.

We moved quickly, ushering kids and women first, then the men who still lingered. "GUYS! GET DOWN!" I cry out, spotting a very familiar, very scary jet overhead.

"Shit, is that-? Luke asked as well all ducked down in fear.

"Yup. Now shut up," I order in a whisper. Once Megatron passed, I got up, following his path. He landed on top of a building, having a complete view of the battle grounds. I could see exactly who he was looking at. Jazz. No way in hell was I letting that happen.

I looked around through the scattered remains of buildings, looking for a weapon of some sort. Wait, was that a gun? I pick it up, staring in shock at it. I had very little experience in guns, but this looked pretty simple. Point and shoot.

That's exactly what I did, shooting at the alien tyrant with actually pretty good aim. Megatron jerked, unfocussing from his targeting of Jazz. Unfortunately, it lead to him targeting the general area I was in, because I had been smart enough to duck away.

"Come out, insect," he growled, prowling closer and closer to me. A hand clamped over my mouth and dragged me back. I looked up quickly. Luke.

We ran around the building, through alleys, basically leading Megatron on a wild goose chase around the city.

"You're a real big idiot, you know that, right?" Luke snapped as we ran.

"I know! But man, that was fun!" I shout back to him as we duck into an open cellar door. I put a finger to my lips and pressed against the wall, Luke mimicking me.

"Come out, insects, and I will make you deaths painless," Megatron growled.

I pretend to check my nonexistent watch, "Shouldn't you be looking for something right now?" I taunt. "Like, I don't know, not us?"

"Are you crazy? Shut up!" Luke spat in a whisper.

"You should listen to your partner, Girl. Your tongue will be your death," Megatron spat, closer than ever.

"I'm a little worried about your priorities right now, and saying as you're my enemy and a tyrant, that's not a good thing," I say, ignoring Luke once more as he told me to shut up.

"I will kill your friend quickly. You, however, Girl, will die slowly, along with the one who dares keep the All Spark from me," Megatron promised. "I will be back," he warned, taking off.

"See, not only did we keep Megatron from the battle for a good long while, but I also just saved our lives for now," I say. I go over to the cellar entrance, only to stare in horror.

"Oh, shit. Nice going. You got us trapped, Caity," Luke said, no real venom in his words.

"Then we better hope that Sam kills Megatron in this alternate universe we've created," I say solemnly.

"But in the mean time, we can try to move whatever that is that's blocking the entrance," Luke said.

"I… Think it's a crushed car. Luke… I think I see blood," I gasp.

"Come on. We've got to move it," Luke said emotionlessly.

I nod, and we set to work. Working together, and with some of the things we found in the cellar, we managed to move it so we could barely squeeze out, but we could still get out.

I held my breath as we looked around the corner, spotting smoke far away from us, signifying the battle grounds.

"Let's go," Luke says, and we quietly race through the streets, getting back to the battle fairly quickly.

"What'd we miss?" I ask, spotting Kain and Michael with two soldiers.

"Man, Ratchet got us babysitters when you two went missing," Michael complained.

"Where's Megatron?" I ask worriedly.

"He's fighting with Optimus, Sam's in that trench, watching the fight. Where have you guys been?" Kain replied.

"Who do you think's been keeping ol' Megsy occupied for the past however long the time was from the battle starting and Megatron joining the battle?" I snap.

"Yeah, but that was ages ago!" Michael said.

"We had to move a car," I said vaguely, looking around for Bumblebee and Jazz, both of which were fighting fiercely on their feet, not in two pieces.

"A crushed car," Luke added.

"You guys are crazy," Kain said.

"Are you just now realizing this?" I snap. I had lost the gun in the cellar, so we really couldn't do anything against the Decepticons, doubly so with the two guards on us. "Don't you two have a battle to fight?"

They glare at me, but don't answer, nor do they move.

"Hey! Kids! Kids!" Lennox shouted, running over.

"Yes?" Luke asks.

"You need to get inside, it's safer than being out here," he orders.

"Okay," Luke says, and we run in to where the other soldiers are.

"Hey Mikaela," I say cheerfully.

"Hey… This is crazy, right?" she asks breathlessly.

"Yeah. It's pretty insane. Well, since we have nothing to- whoops, never mind," I say as the wall explodes.

"I have the All Spark now, and soon I will have enslaved this planet as well. I will return, Prime," Megatron growled.

"Oh shit. There goes the timeline," I say, burying my head in my hands in despair.

"Shit, Sam!" Mikaela shouts. I look up and over at Optimus. He has his helm down in sorrow, but he's not holding anything at all, so I think that it's safe to assume that there isn't a body.

"What happened?" Luke growls when we reach him, and Optimus seems to break out of his stupor.

"Sam. The cube cut his hand. There was an energy spike, and Sam absorbed it, essentially making him the new vessel for the All Spark," Optimus said solemnly.

"The cube broke," I say, staring at one of the halves. "Luke…" I pick up the halve I had been looking at. "Isn't…. isn't this the thing that brought us here?" I ask slowly.

He takes it from me, examining it as well. Then he resolutely sets it down and nods silently, clenching his jaw.

"You are saying that part of the All Spark brought you to our dimension?" Optimus asks.

I pick it up again, surprised when it beeps. "No, not again, I am not-" I fall silent as the blue light washes over Kain, Michael, Luke, and me. It beeped and the light retracted.

To our surprise, our phones began blasting some kind of alarm, causing us to take them in our hands.

"How is that possible? My phone was off!" Kain exclaims.

I read the text scrolling across my phone out loud. "Subject 4 integration into dimension, 90%. Subject 4's home dimension, successfully erased. Subject 4 ALL Spark energy levels, 99%. Subject 4 memory core, unavailable. Memory wipe to come. Subject 4 emotional levels, erratic. Diagnosis, stressed. Subject 4 physical health, 85%. Diagnosis, injured. Injuries: Nerve damage to left arm. Sharp force trauma to right abdomen. Blunt force trauma covering 78% of Subject 4. Subject 4 is ready for next step," I say shakily.

"Who's Subject 4?" Kain asks. "Mine says something similar, but it says Subject 3, not 4."

"Mine says Subject 1," Luke says.

"Mine says Subject 2. What the heck is going on?" Michael asks. The Autobots had gone strangely silent.

The All Spark half beeped again, a blue light shooting out once more. ~Subject 1, step forward and place right arm in front of you~ it said emotionlessly. It made me jump.

"Guys… I think… I think that… we're the Subjects," I say. "That means Luke is… Subject one," I say.

Luke nods and hesitantly takes a step forward, putting his right arm out. The blue light zeroed in on his arm, and part of the other half of the Cube broke off and seemed to grow legs and crawl over and up to his arm. When it got to his forearm, it circled around it, and I gave a little scream as it grew spikes and impaled itself into his arm, forming a sort of gauntlet around it. It began to stretch up, covering most of his arm, and going into the skin, and blood dripping from under the metal. I gave a much louder scream when it glowed bright red, burning itself into his body.

I think that it was him, though, that screamed the loudest when great wings suddenly unfolded from his back, bloody and glistening silver. The moved as he moved, flapped and he was brought to his knees, crying in pain.

"Luke!" Kain, Michael, and I shout, rushing over to us. But before we got there, the blue beam retraced for a second, turning on us instead, actually shoving us back.

It lifted Luke up and dropped his now unconscious body away from us before speaking again. ~Subject 2, step forward and place your right arm in front of you~ it said. Michael stared at it in horror, obviously planning to not do what it asked, when the blue light flashed dangerously, and Michael was suddenly there, holding his side, which was bleeding slightly. His other arm was held firmly in the blue light, where the metal quickly did the same thing it had done to Luke.

"Oh my gods. Oh my gods," I say, finding it the only thing I CAN say. My hand is over my mouth, and I've sunken to my knees as Kain is too called forward.

~Subject 3, step forward and place your left arm in front of you~ it said. I made the connection.

"It's going by what arm dominate we are," I say fearfully. "Oh shit. Ohshitohshitohshitohshit. I'm ambidextrous. Oh shit," I add.

~Subject 4, step forward and place both arms in front of you~ it said. I step forward, fearfully holding out my arms. I'm not quite sure how I managed to stay conscious during the thing. I remember it biting deep into my arms and on my back, growing and digging till it reached my nerves, where it burned white hot, connecting itself into my nervous system. The wings were the worst, though, so sensitive and flailing around as I shrieked in pain.

By the time it was done, I crumpled, breathing heavily. I twitched and gave a scream of pain. I couldn't move. It hurt to breathe. Then the pain came again, eating at my insides, and I was screaming again. The guys had all blacked out. I hadn't been fortunate enough to.

I screamed and I screamed, wishing it would just stop. When it did, it was only because the blue light washed over me once more, then slammed me into a wall, finally knocking me out.


	6. Ouch

_**Here you go, lovelies! Hope you enjoy! If you don't, good for you! Now... here is chapter 6!**_

When I woke up, I couldn't breathe. I don't mean I was having trouble with it, I mean my lungs were literally not functioning, but I was still alive. I sit up, almost screaming again, but having no air, I produced no sound. I look around blearily. Metal. Metal everywhere. And I see the guys as well, silently sitting next to each other on a single bad. The room shakes, and I turn again, blinking against the bright light. We're moving. Optimus. We're in Optimus.

I look at my arms, seeing the bloody ribbons of skin there, metal covering the rest. Oh, oh, no, this is not happening.

I open my mouth and form the words, though no sound escapes my lips. I try again, trying to remember how to breathe. I had never had to force myself to breathe. It was odd. The rasping sound that came from my lips was shocking. But I had succeeded.

"Ow," I rasp, the words sounding as painful as they were.

Optimus jerked a little in surprise, causing me to yelp in pain. "You are all awake. I am sorry, I had not noticed," he said slowly. I see the Cube halves resting on the far side of his cab, and I glare at them with hatred as pure as I could muster.

"Guys, I'm sorry. For bringing us here…. Changing the timeline. We would be home right now if I hadn't," I rasp quietly.

Luke is the next to figure out how to speak. "Not your fault. Would have happened anyway. Said that there was another step. And something about a memory wipe," he said.

I nod bravely. Brave because I nodded and I knew it would hurt. "I feel all icky," I say.

Kain is the first of us to laugh, the sound brightening the atmosphere, even though it probably burned like fire to do so.

"Yeah, dried blood'll do that to you," Michael said. I break into a smile, braving to stand and hobble over to them. I give Michael a hug, which he is surprised with. Then I give Kain and Luke a hug as well.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear your annoying as hell voice," I explain.

"Oh and not, for, you know, not being dead?" Luke asked.

"Shh. You only had it happen on one arm. I got both," I growl.

"Not my fault you're weird and ambidextrous," Luke said lightly. I nod slowly.

"But I still feel icky," I say.

"We have almost arrived at the boat that the American Government is using to transport us to a secure military base. Ratchet will examine you to see what damage the All Spark halves did to you," he said, though it was edgy, as though there were more he wished to say, but didn't because we were here.

"How much longer?" I ask.

"Approximately three minutes," he replied.

"So, why were you guys so… I don't know, angered or shocked, or whatever that reaction was, when the All Spark halves did that thing?" I ask.

Optimus vented heavily, shaking the cab slightly. "You are too observant for your own good. You need not concern yourself with it, little one," he said evasively.

Of course, that awakened my stubborn side, normally only brought out around people I had authority issues with. I clench my jaw and glare at the dash.

"If it pertains to us, then I believe that you should tell us," I say, standing up once more.

Optimus was silent for a moment, as though collecting himself. "No, little one. You do not have the privilege of having such knowledge, nor should you wish to have it," he rumbled.

I bristled at that, and out of the corner of my eye, I actually saw the metallic feathers on my wings fluff up as well. "Privilege? I just got my ass handed to me by a little broken cube that decided to transfer us to this dimension in the first place, and it erased my own dimension, and you're saying I don't have the PRIVILEGE to know what the hell is going on?" I say as loudly as I dare. "It shouldn't even be a privilege, it should be my RIGHT to know what the hell the All Spark is doing to me and my friends!"

Optimus shook with fury as his voice filled the cab. "SILENCE! Do not speak to me like that, young one. I will not tell you what you seek, now enough is ENOUGH!"

I fell to the ground, whimpering in pain and fear, holding my head in my hands, trying to get the ringing out of my ears. I tried to say okay, but even with air, no sound came out. My whimpering wasn't even making any noise.

Optimus seemed to gain control of himself again, and seemed a little bit ashamed of his outburst. "I am sorry, little one. That was uncalled for. You are correct, it is unfair of me to keep this from you, but I must. You may speak," he added the last part as though it were an after thought. Almost at once, my whimpering was heard, as well as groaning from the guys.

"S-sorry," I stutter quietly, rising to sit fully on the ground and bring my knees close to my chest, wrapping my arms around them. My wings mimicked my arms, the painful movement making me shake.

"It is not your fault, little one. We have arrived, and you will be transferred to Ratchet's alt-mode. He will not answer your questions, either. None of them will," Optimus warned gently.

The transfer was almost as painful as speaking was, and there were more than a few complaints on our part. Not to mention the medic now had a lot more scratches on his alt-mode from where our wings had struck him.

"Slagging pit, who knew moving four children would be so difficult," he exclaimed when he finally got us in.

I cheekily raise my hand.

He looks at me and grumbles, "Of course you did, you were the one making it difficult. Must you always ignore authority?"

"When do I ignore authority?" I rasp innocently.

"How about when you promised that you would stay out of the battle, and you were speaking for your group at the time, and then you promptly put yourselves in danger by joining the battle, and you two went missing for nearly an hour!" Ratchet growled, pointing at Luke and me.

"Well, when the battle began, Luke took back leadership, so I was just listening to directions from him," I say.

"Of course you were. Which is why when you shot Megatron before he could get to Jazz, you broke completely away from the group when your orders were to help get the civilians out, right?" he asked dryly.

"How did you…?"

"Megatron likes to brag," he supplied. "He mocked Optimus of how fleshling child, a girl, no less, saved the life of his SIC, then proceeded to tell of how he had trapped you and Luke and planned to kill you after he killed Prime," he explained further, "though now, if he saw what you have become, I do not believe he would dare to kill you. Any of you… right now, that is as safe as we can ask for if he does manage to capture any of you."

"Anything else he brag about?" I ask.

"After he grabbed Sam's unconscious body, he seemed to change his mind about something. He said that maybe he would have three pets instead of one, then took off with Sam," Ratchet replied.

I shiver, not liking the sound of that. "Is that all?"

"There were some profanities said after the battle was ended, but you were undergoing what the All Spark did to you, so we did not pay it much heed," Ratchet admitted. I had to grin at this. Luke did too.

"Looks like he saw how we moved the car," I say.

"That'll show him to underestimate the determination of two humans," Luke adds.

"Or show him the defiance to obey two younglings have," Ratchet said dryly. "Now, enough chatter, I need to examine you."

The guys obediently removed their shirts, which disappeared as soon as they did, fading away. Because of this, I was loathe to remove my precious sweatshirt, one of our only connections to our old dimension.

"Take it off, or I will cut it off," Ratchet finally growled.

I attempt to take it off. Unfortunately, dried blood plus skin plus cloth doesn't make for an easy removal. Plus, it was two layers of cloth that the blood seeped through, meaning that getting it off was going to be almost impossible.

"Sorry, can't do it," I say. Ratchet glowered at me and pulled out a pair of heavy duty scissors. I almost chickened out. Almost. But I didn't. At least, until he told me that he was going to have to cut through my tank top as well. I mean, I was wearing a sports bra, but still.

"Uh, no. No way, no how," I say.

"Um, yeah, I second that. It would be weird," Michael says. Luke and Kain nod as well.

"You Earthlings and your social ways. There is no shame in it," Ratchet said.

"I never said there was shame in it, but they're like my brothers, and them seeing me in my bra is just weird," I complain.

"I don't care. Take off your tank top. If you must, pull the curtains and have the boys stay on the other side of it," Ratchet reasoned.

That's what I ended up doing, glaring at the spot where my sweatshirt and tank-top had been. Ratchet removed the curtain, rolling my eyes at my protest. The guys didn't make any comments.

"Alright, now let's actually start," Ratchet growled. He proceeded to clean the blood off of all of us, taking extra care to do so with the metal areas. Apparently they hurt because the blood was making it difficult for the metal to move. That and the whole burning itself into our nerves.

With all the blood off us, and most of the dirt as well, you could see how awful we looked. We had dark circles under our eyes, and the limited amount of food and the amount of running and walking we had done had eaten away at the small amount of fat we all had. I had already been skinny, my ribs could be seen on any given day, but this was ridiculous.

"Damn, Caity. How are you that skinny? I've never seen you say no to food, and you've said so yourself that you don't like to exercise…" Kain commented.

"Yeah, I know. But, I sometimes forget that I need to eat. I get distracted," I say.

"I believe that you are what is called a workaholic when it comes to things you are interested in, Ratchet said. He ran his hand over my ribs, though, checking for any breaks. I knew that he had seen it, but he had yet to comment on the deep cut I had gotten on my side, probably from when I squeezed out from between the cellar and the crushed car.

I flinch away when he gets to my sides, giggling. "Sorry, I'm ticklish," I say.

"I can tell," Ratchet said with a roll of his eyes. "That cut is going to need stitches," he informed us.

"Great," I say, wrinkling my nose.

"You have had them before?" Ratchet asks.

"Yeah, when I was little. I had a cold, went to get a tissue, tripped, sliced my head open on a slightly raised nail. I don't remember it ever hurting, but my step-mom, well, ex-step mom now, freaked out, made my dad take me to the hospital. I remember holding his hand while they did the stitches, telling me to squeeze his hand if it hurt, but I don't remember it ever hurting at all. Kind of like when I got the cut…" I say, shaking myself out of the memory and point at the scar that is just shy of my temple.

"That sometimes happen when a person goes into shock, I believe, or is on an adrenaline rush, like you have been over the past few days," Ratchet said. He grabbed a needle and the threading they use for stitches, and came over. I sucked in a breath, not that I needed to, and looked up at the ceiling.

"Let me guess, you are not a fan of needles, either?" he asked. I shake my head silently.

"Hey, Caity, why don't you like needles?" Luke asked teasingly.

"I'm not overly fond of being stabbed," I reply.

"Few are," Ratchet commented, proceeding to stitch up my wound.

"Well, anything else that you are afraid of?" Kain asked.

"Um, yeah, small spiders, heights, though I'm not afraid of falling, I just don't like the act of rising up suddenly. Roller coasters, I don't like those," I say. "Shelby was afraid of the dark, but I was afraid of what was in the dark. Or am. I still am afraid of what is in the dark. I'm afraid of my friends dying, I'm afraid of my family dying…." I sigh, thinking about how everyone but Kain, Michael, and Luke was gone. Erased.

"Done. I'm going to check out the boys, then I will examine the metal further. And no scratching at the stitches," Ratchet warned.

"Yeah yeah," I say, waving him off. The guys only sustained small cuts and a couple of bruises during the actual battle. The real problems came from the metal, but Ratchet was rather tight lipped about why it had happened to us.

"In time, you will be able to fly," Ratchet said, "But no time in there near future are any of you to attempt to use them, understood? Caity?"

I look up, startled. "Why are you singling me out?"

"You're the one with authority issues, according to both Luke and Optimus. Optimus truly did not mean to startle you the way he did, nor take away your free will," Ratchet said.

"What do you mean, take away my free will?"

"Not just yours, all of you. But if you did not notice it, I will not explain it," Ratchet said evasively.

I grit my teeth together, resisting the urge to argue. "I need a new shirt," I snap instead.

Ratchet disappeared for a moment before coming back in with four fresh shirts, all having a military insignia on them. Then we ran across another problem. We couldn't get them over the wings.

"You are all just going to be difficult, aren't you?" Ratchet growled.

"I fail to see how this is our fault," Kain snapped.

"Uh…" Michael began.

"Shut up, Michael. It's not Caity's fault, either," Luke said flippantly.

"Eh… just a little bit," I say. Luke shakes his head at me, but otherwise ignored my words.

With a bit of maneuvering and some crafty cutting, we manage to get the shirts on, our new, and quite frankly annoying at this point, wings sticking out the back, but at least we had them on.

"Please refrain from causing trouble on the boat. Captain Lennox is in charge of watching you, and asked me to pass that along," Ratchet said, allowing his doors to open.

We got out. It hurt like hell, but we walked the entire length of the boat, all the while avoiding Captain Lennox. Not an easy thing to do when you look like high tech versions of Maximum Ride and the Flock.

"So, how long do you think it'll take for Ratchet to find us and yell at us?" Luke asked as well looked down over the boat, high above it.

"About as long it took us to climb up here, I guess," Kain replies. I grin, spotting the Hummer on the far side of the boat. Then I look directly down and see Captain Lennox standing at the bottom, arms crossed, tapping his foot.

"Uh oh. Babysitter's caught us," I warn.

"Uh, it's not like he can get up here, right?" Michael asks nervously.

"Nah…" we all say. We all eat our words as Lennox expertly climbs up to the crows nest, freaking Assassin's Creeding it up to the top.

"Well, there goes that theory," I mutter.

"You kids know that you aren't allowed to be up here, right?" Lennox asks us with a serious look.

"How did you know that we'd be up here?" I challenge.

"Are you in charge of this little group?" Lennox asks.

"No, Luke is boss. I'm SIC, though," I say.

"Could have fooled me. Anyways, I knew you guys would be here because it's quiet, it has a good view, so you can't be snuck up on, and because it is clearly a place you aren't allowed to be. Basically, you where I would have gone if I was in your position," Lennox explained. I scooted over, patting the spot next to me.

"Well come on up. We're just waiting for Ratchet to yell at us. Or one of the other 'bots," I say.

Lennox debated for a moment before nodding and climbing fully the rest of the way up, sitting next to me.

"So, you four are from another dimension, huh?" he asks after a moment.

"Were. We Were from a different dimension," Luke says quietly.

"What happened?" Lennox asks. We recount what had happened to us, how we had just been at school watching a movie, the movie this dimension is, actually, when we found the half of the All Spark, though we didn't know at the time, and how we had got transported here. We told of how everyone thought we had been kidnapped, and how now they were erased.

"Man, that sucks. What happened during the battle? Where were you two?" Lennox asked Luke and me.

"Oh, well, I sort of shot Megatron and he was about to kill me when Luke grabbed me, and we ran all over the city with Megatron chasing after us. We finally found a cellar that we could hide in, and I sort of taunted Megatron enough that he threatened to kill me slowly and painfully. We didn't realize that he had put a crushed car in front of the cellar entrance until we tried to get out. There was blood in it…." I say.

Lennox stares at me for a moment. "You are crazy," he finally determines, shaking his head. We go quiet, looking over the boat and the ocean, the sea air blowing in our faces.

"Hey, is that land?" Kain asks. I zero in on where he is pointing, seeing it as well.

"Yup," I say.

"I don't see anything but fog," Lennox says, confused.

"What fog?" we ask. Lennox looks at us strangely.

"The fog surrounding the boat? You guys can't see it?"

We shake our heads, giving each other nervous glances.

Five minutes later, Lennox could see the outline of the island, and the crew set to work, preparing to dock.

"Okay, kids, get down whenever you're ready," Lennox said, climbing down himself.

The guys all give me startled looks. "Down?" Michael asks, his voice an octave higher than it should be. We hear a crash, and mumbled cursings. We look down to see Lennox laying on the ground, covered in metal poles. The remnants of the ladder we had use to climb up here. It had somehow broken, and now we were trapped.

"Uh…." I say. "ARE YOU ALRIGHT, LENNOX?" I shout down, cupping my hands to make sure it was loud enough for him to hear.

"Yeah!" he calls up, looking worriedly up at the pillar. "But how are you kids gonna get down?"

"Uh…. THAT'S A GOOD QUESTION!" I say, peering down once more.

I looked carefully, then painfully lowered myself down, getting a firm hold before simply sliding down. I hit the ground and grin up at the guys.

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Kain shouted as Luke and Michael copy me, getting down safely. Kain slowly does as well, still hugging the pole even after his feet touch the ground.

"You okay, Kain?" I ask.

"Yup," he says.

Luke and I slowly pull him away from the pole, teasing him lightly about how scared he was.

"I'm never doing that again," he promised. We mock pout at him, ruining the effect by laughing.


	7. Note to Self, No Climbing Trees

_**Another chappie for you! There is more to come, like, tons more, but I'll just feed it to you slowly because I'm mean!**_

We were not expecting to all be picked up by different bots and brought on shore, deep into the base, where the Autobots would be staying. "Hey, hey, put me down," I order Ironhide, who snorts and shakes his head.

"You are, what do the humans call it, grounded because of all the stunts you've pulled over the last two days," Ironhide growls.

"All of us?" I ask.

"No, just you. You are the instigator, after all," Ironhide said. I cross my arms, not happy with the situation.

"What are you going to do? Ground me from fun?" I snap.

"No, you're grounded from seeing your team," Ironhide replies.

"HELP! HE'S KIDNAPPING ME!" I screech, struggling fiercely. No response from the guys. "AND HE'S BREAKING RULE 2!"

That got the attention of the guys, who also begin to struggle. "Hey, you guys can't do that!" Luke insists.

I'm not sure how, but somehow I get from Ironhide's hand to the ground, and it hurts like hell. I think I might have fallen.

"Oof, let's not do that again," I say, before dodging under Ironhide so he couldn't lift me up again.

"Ironhide, you idiot," Ratchet growled, setting Kain down with a stern warning to stay there, not that the blond listened, instead, he joined me underneath Ironhide.

"Now who's the idiot?" Ironhide rumbled.

"Both of you," I taunt. "By the way, you're right, I am an instigator. Sorry for the trouble!"

"Caity, go left!" Luke warns, cheering me and Kain on.

"You be quiet," Bumblebee warns, though he looks like he too is about to begin cheering for us. Luke pulls a similar stunt that I had, though he landed on his feet and got over to us practically before Bumblebee realized that he was gone.

"Watch his foot," I warn, listening to my own words and dodging.

"Hey, can I join the fun?" Michael complains to Jazz, who nods and gently sets him down.

"Everyone here?" I ask.

"Yup," they reply.

"Okay, let's get out of here then," I say, and we dash out of the hall, going into the human quarters. We had to be careful, because the holoforms could find us easily.

We got to part of the base that was really deep inside, like, so far in that we were hopelessly lost.

"Uh… Caity, how do we get out?" Kain asked.

"Does it look like I have directions?" I snap. "Michael?"

"We go that way," he said confidently, pointing to our left, where there was a small opening. I duck in between it, seeing a metal leg.

"Good job. We managed to get on the hallway parallel to the bots," I say, actually happy about this, because it meant we weren't lost. "How did you know that?"

"I saw the opening before we left, then I remembered the route we took to get here, then I found the opening, and now we aren't lost," Michael explained.

"Oh. You keep doing that. Just make sure that we always know where that spot is, 'kay?" Luke asked. Michael nodded happily.

"So, keep exploring?" Kain asked.

I let Luke answer this one. "Duh," he said, continuing forward. We kept walking until we got to an old, broken down part of the base. I don't mean, dusty, and some flickering lights, old. I mean, we were on dirt flooring, old.

"Cool," we say, looking around with awe.

"I don't think that we should be here," I say nervously, eying the decaying wood above us.

"When has that ever stopped you?" Kain asked.

"When logic hits me over the head and tells me that this place could come down at any moment," I snap.

"It won't. It just looks old. They would have blocked it off it was that dangerous," Luke assured.

"I don't know. Maybe they're expecting people to use common sense," I reply.

"Hey. Rule 3, and I say that we're going in there. Don't you trust me?" Luke said.

I glare at him, but don't answer. I don't need to. The guys are already moving. I refrain from doing so, giving them plenty of room to ensure nothing is broken by our combined weight.

I'm about to step forward onto a wooden beam when I hear a cracking noise. I turn, nearly losing my balance, to see the Autobots glaring at us from the beginning of our parkour maze that we had found.

"Told you so," I say to Luke.

"No, you said that this place could come down at any moment," Luke argued. The wood snapped and I fell, barely grabbing onto the edge of the ground.

"Alright, NOW I told you so," I mutter.

"All of you, get back here now!" Ironhide orders.

"Uh, if you hadn't noticed, the beam that we used to get across sort of broke. If you hadn't, that's the reason Caity is hanging onto the ledge," Kain said dryly. I grunt and pull myself up, my metal wings flapping slightly as I did, the collapse on the not so safe side of the beam. Which is to say, the Autobot side.

"How did you guys find us?" I ask as I get to my feet, glaring at the gap contemplatively.

"We could hear you arguing about it. Mostly you. For once you actually had some sense as to what not to do," Optimus replied scathingly.

"Oh, wow, ouch. That really hurt," I say sarcastically. This might be a good time to mention that I don't take it very well when someone treats me like I'm a child.

"Hey, leave her alone. This one wasn't her idea, it was mine," Luke said, coming to my defense.

"We know. And for once, you should have listened to her," Optimus replied in the same tone he had used with me. "I pity your parents if this is how you acted with them," he added.

I froze for a second. How could someone normally so kind be so cruel? Yes, I admit that we were being annoying, and a lot of that was intentional, but you don't say that to a person!

I didn't know what I was doing until after I had already punched Optimus' holo in the jaw and again in the eye. He stumbled back in shock, rubbing the spot on his jaw I had hit, surprise clear in his fake eyes.

"Never. Ever. Insult our parents. You don't know shit about what any one of us went through before we were zapped here. Guys, come find me once you get out, but until then, I'm gone. I'll see you later," I spit, pushing past the shocked Autobot holoforms.

I get all the way outside before the tears of anger and shame begin to spill. I get all the way to the jungle before I begin to outright sob. It takes me taking out a good chunk of a tree with one punch to realize I needed to get myself under control.

I shake my hand, trying to return the feeling to it, and look around. I take a deep, calming breath, like councillor number three always said to do. Or was it twenty three? Maybe they both told me that…?

I spent the next ten minutes trying to figure out which of the councillors I had see over the years. Or maybe it had been the social services gal?

I finally shrug and basically give up figuring it out. A lot of people had told me that. I count to ten before cracking my knuckles, a bad habit I had used to replace the even worse habit of biting my nails.

I feel trapped here, in the jungle. Normally I don't. I normally love being in the trees, away from other people, away from the bustle of society. It reminds me of my childhood home, which was a small town, tiny, and the woods behind my house that we were forbidden to enter, but did so anyways, until we got scared and ran back home, laughing the whole time.

I look around for a tree that I could climb, but all of the branches are high above my head, and I don't feel like climbing up a bare trunk.

So, instead, I keep walking. It seems as though the island of Diego Garcia goes on forever. I know it doesn't, but that's how it seems. I trip, tumbling down a steep hill and landing in a heap at the bottom of it, groaning. I look up, debating on whether or not I should make the steep climb back up. Then I hear rustling and decided that yes, yes, I should definitely make the climb.

I get halfway up before someone speaks behind me, startling me and making me tumble back down.

"You're going to hurt yourself."

I ignore them, attempting the climb once more and getting near the top before the holo is suddenly in front of me, and I let go, deciding that maybe I don't need to get back up. I stubbornly ignore him, clenching my jaw and stalking away though the jungle, hoping that the holo would have trouble getting through the vegetation.

Just my luck that I'm the one that runs into trouble with the vegetation. Or rather, the home of something that lives in the vegetation. "Gah, off, get off!" I mutter, dusting the spiderweb off of me and looking around to ensure I didn't have the spider on me. I hear him stop near me, but I take off again before he can begin to speak.

I actually manage to find maybe the only tree with branches low enough for me to climb, and climb I do, getting up pretty high before I look down and realize that he's waiting at the bottom of the tree. I glance over at the next tree, judging how far the distance was. He noticed and appeared on the closest branch, glaring at me sternly. He wasn't going to let me jump that way. I jump onto the tree on the other side of me, landing lightly on the branch before climbing even higher up to get to the next tree.

"If you fall, you are going to severely hurt yourself," he warned. Again, I ignore him, concentrating on not falling.

I got five trees over before he zapped in front me again, stopping me from jumping to the next tree. I pretend I don't see him, but I do leap to a different tree than the one he was blocking.

"You are being childish," he growled, following me once more.

I grit my teeth, refusing to answer him. I miss the next branch, but grab the one below it before I can fall too far. I pull myself up and continue on as though nothing happened, ignoring his grumblings about how I was going to get myself killed.

He got smarter after that, instead of appearing on the tree I was going to hop to, he began appearing on the branch I was on, making me double back. On one such occasion, the branch I chose to jump to broke under my weight, and I would have hit the ground had he not grabbed me and jerked me back.

"Le. Go. Of. Me," I spit, jerking away from him. He sighs and ignores me, instead lifting me into his arms as though I were a small child and began climbing down easily.

"Had I not grabbed you, then you would have fallen," he told me. As if I didn't already know that.

"Yeah, and if you weren't bugging me, then I wouldn't have climbed onto that branch, and I wouldn't have been in any danger of falling," I spit back, struggling to get out of his hold. He held on tightly, almost enough to be painful, but not quite.

"No, you would have injured yourself in another way, like falling down a cliff," he snapped, his impatience with me showing.

"If you hadn't shown up, I wouldn't have fallen those other two times," I growl, flailing and hitting him with one of my wings hard enough that he dropped me. Unfortunately, we were still about ten feet up from the ground, next to the same steep hill that I had fallen down earlier. I groaned as I finally stopped moving, dizzy from the movement. "Oh, that was not fun," I whine, getting to my feet and then just as quickly going back to the ground, my led on fire. I was really confused as to what was happening. Could see my leg bent at an odd angle, I could feel the pain, but I had never broken a bone before, so I couldn't understand what was happening. "Well, that one was my fault," I admit.

"You've broken your leg," Optimus informs me as he lifts me up once more.

"I did? Huh… I've never broken a bone before. Weird. It kind of hurts…." I say, after a couple of deep breaths.

Optimus gives me a look that I think meant that he was debating giving me a sarcastic reply or not. He didn't, so he must have decided not.

"You are too reckless, little one," he says after we get out of the jungle. I cross my arms, refusing to look at him once again.

"Maybe that's because it's FUN," I snap.

"Your so called fun is going to get you killed," Optimus replied.

"I'd die happy then," I snarl.

"Would you? And when your fun gets someone else hurt? Or when you end up killing yourself, and you leave your friends, who you described to love like they were your own brothers, to mourn after you?" Optimus countered.

I go quiet for a moment. "Damn you, would you stop being right?" I pout, still refusing to look at him.

"No. If I did, who would annoy you enough to get you to listen?" Optimus said seriously. I almost gave a smile at that. Almost.

"I don't know, someone. Probably one of the guys," I say instead.

"No, they wouldn't. They are too soft with you," Optimus said, shaking his head.

"They are not," I snap.

"Yes, they are. Why else do you think they listen to you?" he asked.

"Uh, Kain and Michael are scared of me, and Luke normally agrees with me because he normally has the same idea," I argue.

"Uh huh. That's it," Optimus said sarcastically. "Not because you are youngest and a girl at all."

"You know how sexist that is?" I snap.

"It is not. I am simply stating a fact that instinctually they go out of your way to ensure your happiness and to protect you," Optimus said patiently.

"Uh huh. Whatever," I snap, wanting the conversation to drop.

"Would you look at me so we can have a proper conversation?" Optimus snapped.

"Nope," I say stubbornly.

"Caity, look at me," Optimus ordered. I suddenly felt very compelled to look at him. It was only after I had when I remembered what Ratchet had said about Optimus taking away our free will and finally understood what he had meant.

"What happened to free will being the right of all sentient beings?" I snap, glaring at him.

Optimus looked at me sheepishly. "I keep forgetting that I need to watch how I speak around you four," he said.

"Uh huh. And tuna fish are purple," I say sarcastically. "You guys don't forget things, you have super advanced, more so than humans could ever hope to even come close to in the next thousand years, processors for brains. Kind of hard to forget things with that, isn't it?"

Optimus gives me a look of slight respect. "You are correct. It is very difficult to forget things. But I do not often have to watch how I word things, therefore, I DO forget," he explained.

"Yeah yeah. Whatever," I say, looking away again, thoroughly annoyed. "Just take me to Ratchet so he can yell at me for being an idiot."

"If that is what you want. I was just going to set it and wrap it myself and save you from Ratchet's wrath," Optimus said slyly.

"I'm starting to wonder who the real bad guy in this war is. The openly evil and charismatic insane guy, or the sneaky, charismatic, noble one," I grumble. Optimus chuckles.

"Which one would you prefer?"

"I would prefer to not be at war," I say dryly.

"No, not that, would you rather have me fix your leg and spare you from Ratchet for a short amount of time, or would you rather face Ratchet now?"

"Like I said, I would rather not be at war. Don't take me to Ratchet," I reply.

Optimus quickly had my leg fixed up and handed me a pair of crutches, making a comment that was totally unfair, yet totally understandable. "You are still grounded from seeing your friends, and this will actually keep you out of trouble."

"How am I supposed to tell them that I'm alright, then?" I ask as we begin walking through the halls.

"I will tell them. Please no breaking the rules," Optimus said before blinking away. I stare in shock at the empty space where he had been, then looked around me. I was in a hallway, by myself, and I had no idea where I was.

Scratch that. I knew exactly where I was, because there was that same opening that Michael had found, leading to the Autobot hanger.

I stare at the opening, seeing Ratchet's legs through the opening, then at the crutches.

"I guess I'm going to take a walk," I say, quickly going in the opposite direction of the opening. I got about fifteen feet away when Ratchet exploded.

"CAITY! GET IN HERE NOW!"

I groan, turning around carefully. "Um, I think that it would be risking my life to do so, so, um, yeah, I'm going to go," I say, turning around again, only to see Ratchet's holoform in front of me, glaring, arms crossed, tapping his foot. "Shit. I keep forgetting you guys can do that."

"Don't use vulgar language, and get in there now," he orders, pushing me gently but firmly through the opening and into the hanger.

"Okay, I'm in here, can I go now?" I ask cheekily.

"No, he won't let you. Believe me, I've tried that before," Ironhide said.

"Okay, well, I'm bored," I say after a moment, beginning to pace around.

"You just got here!" Ratchet commented.

"I know. And I just got bored. I get bored easily," I say, still pacing.

"Well, get over here so I can ensure that Prime set your leg properly," Ratchet ordered.

I wrinkle my nose it distaste. "Do I HAVE to?"

Ironhide seemed to stall for a second before bursting out laughing. "Yes, Ratchet, does she have to?"

"You shut your processor, and you get your aft over here if you know what's good for you," Ratchet growled, pulling out a wrench. Both Ironhide and I flinch back.

"No need to pull out the wrenches of Hell, Hatchet," I whimper, hobbling over.

Ironhide doubles over laughing once more, getting a wrench thrown at him. "Where did you even learn that?" Ratchet growls.

I stare at him as seriously as I can muster. "I read."

Ironhide bursts out laughing again, and I turn to him, smiling. "Of course, it's not as funny to see his reaction as to see you be called the Tooth Fairy," I tease.

"Never speak of that to anyone," the black mech growls.

"Eh, the guys already know. Can't stop them from spreading that around," I say slyly.

"But you CAN refrain from giving the order to spread it around," he replied, his cannons firing up with his anger.

"Why, I can't believe you would think I would be that petty," I say with mock hurt. His cannons fire up fully and I rapidly hobble behind Ratchet, peaking around nervously. "Please don't shoot me," I say.

"Then keep your mouth shut on the subject. Both subjects," Ironhide growls. I nod, not willing to take on his fantastic aim.

"Glad you saw reason, little one," he said cheerfully, stowing away his cannons.

"Yeah, that was reason," I mutter.

"What was that?" Ratchet growled, tapping a wrench lightly in his servo.

"Nothing, I said nothing," I say, feeling suddenly very nervous that I was still going to get scolded anyways. Jeez, it felt like I was being interrogated.

"That's what we thought. Now, stay still, this might tickle," Ratchet warned, scanning my leg. I sat through it passively. It didn't feel like anything at all, actually, other than making me shiver a bit.

"For once he did it right," Ratchet grumbled, and I rolled my eyes. Right, like he was going to mess it up.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, little one," Ratchet warned.

"Wow, it's like I never left home! There are still bossy mother hens telling me what to do," I growl.

"I am not a mother hen," Ratchet growled.

"You just keep telling yourself that, then," I patronize.

"Am not," he argued. I raised an eyebrow. Really? How childish could he get.

"Prove it. Let me go walk around," I challenge.

I almost fool him. Almost. He was actually thinking about it. Then he realized what I was doing.

"You are a clever instigator, aren't you?" he chides, though it's almost a praise. "Almost had me. No, you are staying here until that leg is healed," he orders.

"But, that takes a super long time!" I protest.

"Not for you. Not anymore. Though, I don't believe you will like the outcome."

I blink. I'm starting to feel like one of those actors on TV that portrays their character not knowing something really obvious. Because, I had no clue what he was hinting at.

"Okay, I've got nothing. You're gonna have to outright tell me what the heck is going to happen," I say.

Ratchet shakes his helm. "You will find out yourself," he said vaguely.

"Well, aren't you a lot of help," I grumble, tucking my wings, which until now had been slightly splayed to help me keep my balance, and sat down on the ground, suddenly very tired. It felt like I… I don't know… I had never actually felt so tired, my natural hyperness having always kept me from experiencing a crash, and when I was sick, I wasn't actually tired, I just drifted in and out of reality. This was… It made me feel like cement was in my bones, weighing them down.

"Well, that certainly took longer than I thought it would," Ratchet commented as he gently lifted me onto his servo.

"What did you do?" I demand as I lean against his curled fingers.

"I did nothing. You simply have used up all of your energy reserves with your adventuring and refusing sleep," Ratchet said.

I yawn and shake my head, trying to clear it. "I need-" I yawn again, "coffee."

"No, you need sleep," Ironhide insists.

"You just want me to sleep so I don't cause trouble," I grumble.


	8. Harry Potter and Attacks on the Base

_**Hello lovelies. You know, I love all the favs and follows, but some reviews from you guys would be great as well. Not that I haven't gotten a lot of those, I just really want to know your opinion on the story. Anyways, here you go! Chapter 8!**_

My eyes blink close, and I shake my head, snapping them open. Ratchet is talking to someone. "Be quiet, she's, never mind, she's awake again. Nice going," he growled.

"No, he- yawn- didn't wake me up, I woke myself up," I say. "Though, I could have sworn I had just blinked," I add.

"Might as well have, you were barely asleep for ten minutes. I suggest you go back to it," Ratchet said, clearly still annoyed with whoever he was talking to.

"Yes, if what your friends say is true, you are a lot less troublesome after you've slept," Optimus murmured. I pushed my feeling of drowsiness away and snap alert, glaring at him.

"I'm not tired, and definitely not sleeping if you're in here," I growl.

"I told you so," Ratchet growled.

"Hand her over to me, Ratchet," Optimus ordered with a vent.

"Don't you dare hand me over to him, Ratchet," I growl. "I am not a doll. I have a say in this."

"You do, but in this case, his say outweighs your own," Ratchet said gravelly.

"And why is that?" I snap.

"Optimus is boss," he says plainly, using my own reason for disregarding his orders in Mission City against me.

"No. No, I am not going with you, put me down," I order when Ratchet passes me over.

"No, I am not putting you down. I suggest you sleep," he says patiently.

"No. I'm no longer tired, now put me down," I snap.

"You are going to do more harm to yourself if you do not sleep," he said calmly. I think back to Convos 101, trying to remember how you are supposed to have a civilized conversation when you are feeling like being anything but civil.

Deep breath, push aside emotions, think of the facts. I do just that, pushing my anger down as much as I can at the moment, resisting the urge to cross my arms defensively.

"Please put me down, I do not enjoy being carried places against my will. Some people would refer to it as kidnapping," I say calmly, though it sound more cold than calm.

"Some would also say it was a courtesy, saying as your leg is broken," Optimus countered, surprised by my sudden change.

I bit back my retort, having to actually bite my tongue to keep from saying it. Copper tasting liquid flooded my mouth and I swallow my own blood. "Yeah, but going on account of the person who is being carried, it's kidnapping, because I did tell you to put me down," I reason.

"That could also be considered acting like a child and throwing a tantrum, if you are going on account of the one carrying you," Optimus said.

My mouth opened. Then it closed as I tried to think of a response to that."It is still going against my will," I say, a tad bit of my frustration leaking into my voice.

"It is still helping you heal," Optimus said.

"I have crutches, well, I did, though they're back by Ratchet now," I say cooly.

"That is not helping you rest, though," he said.

"Neither is being with you. I'm not tired anymore. Now I'm just annoyed," I snap.

"You are still tired, it is just less present now that you are focussing on your annoyance," Optimus reasoned.

"I give up. Convo 101 teaches crap that doesn't work," I growl, crossing my arms and looking away.

"Convo 101?" Optimus asks, interested.

"Nope, not telling," I say stubbornly.

"Please?" Optimus tries. I sigh. I look up at the ceiling. Then I cave. I hate it when people are polite and I give up arguing with them.

"It was a four day class we had at school to teach us how to have tough conversations without letting our emotions ruin it. It doesn't work," I say.

"What kind of school teaches such things? I know most adults who do not know how to do this," Optimus said.

"It's a new learning system, one that prepares kids for the real world where you have to work with people you may not like and we work with community partners, we learn photoshop as part of our curriculum, which most schools don't do, and we work with community partners from all over the state and before all this happened, we even had a community partner in Mexico to help us learn Spanish better," I reply.

"You liked this school?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah. Loved it, actually. It helped me work better with people, and I was friends with everyone in my grade because I had to work with them and we never really got a chance to be mean to each other because we had to work together to get a good outcome," I say.

"You used to be bad with dealing with people?" he asked.

"Yeah. I used to never talk to anyone, never cared about other kids, and I never stood up for myself. I actually hadn't been planning on going to that school. My teachers nominated me to go, and the school agreed. I got a freeby into it. Most kids had to enter a lottery to get in," I say.

"Did you know any of of your friends before you came to that school?"

"Yeah, I knew Luke. He and I were in the same middle school when I moved there," I say, thinking about meeting him in art class.

"Why did you move?" Optimus asked.

"Nope. Nope, you are not interrogating me about my past. No," I snap, figuring out what he was doing.

"I almost managed it," he said lightly.

"Yeah. Don't you have work to do or something?"

"I do. But you need to sleep, and you cannot do that while you are stressed," Optimus explained.

"Yeah, but my past isn't that relaxing. Anyways, I don't want to take away from your work time. Do you have anything that I could read?" I ask, switching the topic.

Optimus debates something for a moment. "Yes. If you can figure out how it works," he says, pulling out what appeared to be a large tablet and handing it to me. I look at the glyphs covering the screen dumbly.

"Uh, thanks, but I can't read Cybertronian, Optimus," I say.

"There is an Cybertronian to English dictionary. You just have to find it," he replied, setting me down and transforming before opening his door for me to get in. I debate walking away, but then I remember that my leg is broken and I hobble over and carefully into his cab, my eyes not leaving the screen for a moment.

"Uh…. how does this thing even work?" I ask, not really sure, until I cautiously swipe my hand over the screen, it actually takes my whole hand to do it, and it moves, the glyphs rippling away to show new ones. I move my hand the other way, and it goes back to the ones before. "Oh, never mind. Wait, is what I'm supposed to be reading already up, or do I have to find that, too?"

"It is already up," he replies.

"Okay… Hmm... " I say, pressing my hand onto a glyph and holding it there until a little sid menu of glyphs come up. "This is like the tablet I had back in my dimension," I comment, clicking on where the translate button would be if it were my own tablet. It works, a list of different languages coming up, in both glyph and letter form.

"Found translator!" I say. I click the English button, and the glyph changes for a moment to the word, disappearing just after I read it. "Wait, what? It doesn't stay translated?" I complain.

I'm not sure how long I spend translating just the first page until I finally realized what I was reading, but I know it was a very long time.

"IS THIS HARRY POTTER?" I ask, shaking with excitement.

"Yes. Keep translating," Optimus orders, and even though it took away my free will, I really didn't mind that much, because I was happy to do so. I found it especially amusing when it came to the spells and the translations were off, me telling Optimus and the problem suddenly being fixed.

I think I might have gotten halfway through the book before I realized that I had barely used the dictionary in a while. "Did you know that I used to use these books to improve my reading level when I started to read, because I loved the books and because it had so many words that I didn't know in it?" I ask.

"I did not. How old were you when you started reading?" Optimus asked.

"I was…. six, I think, in first grade, before I could read. Before that, I knew the letters, and I knew the words, and I knew how to write them, but I couldn't read them. My oldest sister, Ellie, could read when she was two, and she always read the Harry Potter books to Shelby, one of my older sisters, and me all the time. I've grown up with these books, and I reread them every summer," I admit, continuing to read.

I think it was when I was on the last part of the book, right before you find out who really was the one to attempt to steal the stone, when the tablet suddenly went black.

"HEY!" I protest. Optimus woke with a start, and the tablet turned back on, revealing my reading place. "Did… did you fall asleep?" I ask.

Optimus groaned as he woke fully up before replying," You should have fallen asleep hours, ago, little one," he scolded.

"But I'm not done with the book!" I protest.

"Do you normally finish a book at three in the morning?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, pretty often, actually," I say.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I want to read the ending," I tell him.

"Can't you read it tomorrow?" he asks, annoyed.

"No. I want to read it now," I say.

"You already know the ending," he replied.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I like it any less and I don't want to read it any less," I respond.

"You can finish it tomorrow," Optimus vented tiredly.

"But-" I begin, but the tablet goes black once more, as well as his cab. "Ten more minutes?" I ask.

He vents again, but the tablet turns on again, and I begin reading once more, going faster than I normally would so I could finish it. I read the last glyph, just as the tablet went black for the final time that day, and I give a little cheer of triumph.

"You finished it?" he asked.

"Yup!"

"Good, now please sleep," Optimus replied tiredly. I set the tablet next to me and lie down, my mind slowly shutting down. Yes, I was tired, but my mind raced ahead of my fatigue, and I knew I was still awake when the hanger brightened and Optimus woke up.

"Hey Optimus?"

"Yes, little one?"

"What time is it?" I ask.

"It is seven in the morning. You did not sleep last night," he growled.

"I wasn't tired," I reply. Then I yawn, my eyes closing for a moment before opening to much brighter light directly in my face. I flinch back, confused.

"Is the sun setting or rising?" I ask.

"Setting. You slept all day," Optimus replied. "You are still functioning on reserve energy, though I have no idea where you are pulling it from," he rumbled.

"Naturally really hyper," I supply.

"I see. Is there any way for you to not be hyper?" he asks.

"Not that I know of. I normally get hyper really easily. And with sugar," I say. "I get really bad on sugar," I say.

"I do not believe that human food will be a problem ever again," Optimus said.

"Why?"

"Did you not notice that you have not felt the need to eat since the All Spark?" he asked.

"No… huh. Weird," I say, scratching at my side.

"Stop scratching at the stitches," he ordered. I look down in surprise, having completely forgotten about that until now. Actually, I had forgotten all the injuries I had sustained until now.

I pull up my shirt and stare at the stitches the criss-crossed over gleaming metal that seemed to originate from nowhere.

"Uh, I don't think it matters anymore. Do you think my leg is healed the same way?" I ask.

"Not yet," he replied.

"How do you know?" I ask, before shivering. Right. They can run scans. "Right. Is there anything else I can read?" I ask.

"There is, but this one should be more challenging," he said. I pick up the tablet once more, confused by the set up. There was a word in English sitting on it, then blank space next to it. I read the glyphs written at the top, trying to figure out what I was supposed to do.

Write the Glyph.

"Wait, I'm supposed to write the glyph? How am I supposed to write it if I can't see it?" I ask.

"You recognize them when you read. You should be able to write them down as you think of the word," Optimus replied. "Now, you better get started if you want to get a good start before you sleep."

I grumble, knowing that he isn't going to allow me to stay up all night again. I set to work with whatever it is that I am supposed to be reading, because I know that it isn't Harry Potter this time. I don't get very far into it before the tablet blinks off, signifying that Optimus expected me to sleep now. I do so very reluctantly, and when I wake up in the morning, the first thing I do is go onto the tablet and begin writing out the glyphs.

My eyes are blurring the words after two hours, but I refuse to stop until I figure out what the freaking story is. Six hours after that, I finally realize what it was.

"Is this… The Book Thief?" I ask.

"You have read it?" Optimus asks, almost disappointed.

"Only to page forty. We were supposed to be reading it for our next project in English. I had already finished the books we were supposed to read for the project we were doing, and my teacher let me start on it," I say. "I didn't get to finish it before…." I trail off, diving back into the book with renewed vigor.

By the end of the day, I've gotten to the end of the book. I know that, because I'm crying at the unfairness she had to go through, everyone she loved… BUT I'm going to cut myself off there before I completely ruin the ending.

"That is an awful, evil book," I say, glaring at the tablet, which is now blank once more. I furiously wipe tears away from my eyes, hating the fact that I was crying. "Never again am I going to read it," I declare.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the book I painstakingly searched for in hopes you hadn't read it," Optimus said dryly.

"Can I read another?" I ask.

"Do you ever stop?" Optimus asks in amazement.

"Reading? Not often," I admit. "Writing, sometimes. Wanting to learn something new, depends on the subject, and how it is taught. Thinking, never in a million year."

"I'm going to run out of things for you to read," he grumbles. "But in the meantime, your leg is now healed." Like magic, the cast was gone, leaving my healed leg.

"That's the cool thing about humans, Optimus. They don't lack imagination. There are always new books to read," I reply with a grin. "By the way, when am I not grounded anymore?"

"When we figure out a way to keep you out of trouble around your friends," Optimus replies.

I snort, "Then I am never getting ungrounded."

"Probably not," Optimus replies with a chuckle. His chuckling suddenly cuts off with a choked sort of noise, worrying me.

"What? What's wrong?" I ask.

"Megatron has found the base. It looks like you're ungrounded. Go, find your friends and hide in the abandoned part of the base. I doubt that he will look there. Oh, and Caity?" he adds.

"Yeah?"

"Cause as much trouble as possible on your way through. Make it difficult to follow you," he orders. I climb out of his cab for the first time in days, searching through the crowd of soldiers for a familiar ginger head. I spot it, and they spot me, and we rush together.

"To the abandoned part of the base," I tell them. "Optimus' orders. Make it as difficult to follow us as possible," I inform them, and we take off running again, down through the base, keeping watch for anyone following us. By the time that we get to the abandoned part of the base, a lot of hallways have been destroyed, none of them leading to us because we cut back to the Autobot hanger and used the gap in the wall, blocking it off behind us.

We parkour it across the rotting beams, using our wings to tentatively glide across the wilder gaps, then breaking the beams and collapsing tunnels after the last person gets over, making going back impossible.


	9. Fights on the Cliff

_**Well, lovelies, I hope you like this! If you don't, then I don't see why you are on CHAPTER NINE of this. For those of you that DO like this, here you go!**_

We stop only when we find some sort of bunker, only lockable from the inside, probably a bomb shelter from World War II. We hide inside, locking the door firmly behind us. The Decepticons would have to be pretty motivated to get inside this thing. Of course, since when are they anything but? We wait for a while, listening to the battle above us. We hear crumbling and loud explosions above our heads, but don't think it means that much, just things falling.

"How clever. You four caused me quite a bit of trouble, very hard for me to follow, but now you're all inside one big container, just waiting to be found by someone," a familiar voice sneers from outside said container. The container tilts dangerous to the side, sending us tumbling. "But how to get it open, that is the trick. The metal is too thick for my holoform to get through, or else I would simply open it myself…"

I press my finger to my lips, telling the guys to be quiet. I close my eyes, trying to think. How were we going to get out of this one? The container suddenly was weightless, then gravity came back, and we hit the ground hard, though none of us dared make a noise.

"You will not have them, Megatron," Optimus growled. The container flew again, hitting the ground and tumbling, but it was enough to tell us that we were away from Megatron.

I unlock the door, shoving it open and seeing only green in front of us. We move silently, ducking through the fallen branches, swinging over rocks and such, trying to be as silent as possible. Then I spot the cliff.

Luke tries to pull Kain and Michael back from the edge, but ends up tumbling down himself, leaving the boys in a heap at the bottom. I clamp my hand over my mouth to keep from calling out, instead worriedly examining the cliffside, trying to find a safe way to reach them.

"Look out!" Luke calls out, and I spin around, my heels at the edge, wings out for balance, seeing Megatron's holoform startlingly close to me. I almost step back, almost, but then I remember the cliff.

"Come closer," he orders. I take the smallest step forward, so there is about an inch between me and the edge. "Hello, Girl. You remember me, don't you? You shot me and kept me from killing that pathetic Autobot," he purred.

"You know how eerily similar that is to something that you say to Sam in an alternate universe? Like, interchange a few words, and it's the same," I reply.

"Ah, yes. I wasn't sure if what my intelligence officer told me was true. So you four are from a different dimension."

"Yeah, Soundwave was right," I growl, stepping back that inch I had taken.

"Tell me, do you hate the All Spark for putting you here?" he asked smoothly.

"Do you?" I counter. He pauses at that. "Because I sure wish it hadn't," I finish the taunt. It's enough to get him to grab for me, and in my surprise, I step back. Only air met my feet. I was suspended by a hand wrapped around my throat, keeping me from falling. "Oh, shit, didn't think that one through, bastard," I hiss through my teeth.

"My my, you must be more careful, Girl. I'm sure that the insects would be mortified to see a broken angel at the bottom of the cliff," he purred, pulling me back from the edge, my feet still not touching the ground. I so wanted to say the comeback I had in mind, but I had no way to get air so I could speak.

Until Megatron tossed me to the ground, far away from the edge. I could hear the muffled shouts of the guys, but my ears were ringing from the impact force of hitting the ground. "I'm hardly an angel," I growl, getting to my feet once more. I glare at the holoform defiantly. "But you, you're just an ass," I taunt.

"Do you never learn to hold your tongue, Girl?" he growled, coming after me again. I barely manage to dodge him, once again between him and the guys.

"Would you idiots run already?" I snap down at them. "We need help," I add when they still don't move.

They move quickly, out of sight before I turn back to Megatron, anger still filling me.

"Oh, and I've been raised to speak my mind, then face the consequences. Not to stay quiet," I tell him.

"Then your creators taught you wrong," he growled, grabbing for me and missing again.

"I never said that it was my parents that taught me that," I spit, kicking out the next time he made to grab me. He grunted, but it didn't really affect him. He was a holoform after all, and he was probably multitasking between fighting Optimus with his real body and me in his holo.

Megatron didn't give an immediate comment to what I had said, but when he did, it hurt. "It doesn't truly matter anymore, does it? Because now they are all gone. Erased. As though they never existed. The only proof you have that they existed is on your phone," he growled. He held up the small device in his hand, grinning cruelly.

I freeze up, just for a moment, trying to figure out how he had gotten it. He uses my distraction against me, dropping the phone off the cliff, and I know that I am never going to get the thing back.

"Well, that was just rude," I snap, taking a deep breath. There were only pictures, and not many at that. I didn't need it. That's what I tell myself.

Megatron strikes at me again, and this time I find myself barely hanging onto the side of the cliff. "That wasn't necessary," I hiss, adjusting my grip and beginning to hurriedly pull myself up. Megatron grabs my wings at the base and pulls me into the air. I choke back a scream of pain as it feels like someone is ripping out a part of my back.

"Oh no, this won't do. How will you be able to fly if your wings can't support you?" Megatron sneers.

"I am perfectly fine with not flying," I hiss through gritted teeth. I'm curled into a ball mid-air, trying to move as little as possible so as not to put more stress on the foreign appendages on my back.

"Until it kills you," he growls.

"Wait, what? How does that work?" I ask, real worry in my voice.

"Those with wings always need the sky," he sneers vaguely. I roll my eyes, uncurling for a moment before curling up again.

"Yeah. That is so helpful. About as helpful as a my wings right now," I snarl.

He was silent for a moment, zoning out for a moment before giving an outraged roar. "You are very clever, Girl, keeping me distracted while your friends get you help. You forget that I have eyes everywhere, and we will be long gone before they arrive here," he growled, shaking me a little bit. I whimper a bit, struggling once more as he shifts his hold on me so he is carrying me like I were a small child.

"LET ME GO!" I scream. He growls and tightens his hold on me so that it's crushing. I wheeze, trying to scream again but not having enough air to do so. I do manage to headbutt Megatron on the chin, making his jaw crack loudly, though. It only made made him increase the pressure on my chest, and I could hear when my rib broke. I don't remember much after that, I think I might have blacked out, but I know when I woke up, I was no longer on Diego Garcia. Also, my ribs hurt like hell, and I couldn't move. Something heavy was over my head and arms and my wings were digging into my back uncomfortably.

I lash out, but my legs are pinned down as well, and I'm not going anywhere. I screech indignantly. The pressure decreases for a moment before returning. "Do you not sleep?" a voice growls.


	10. Giant Dorito Of Doom VS Teenage Human

_**Here you go! Sorry that the last one was so short! This one is more of a decent length!**_

"LET ME GO!" I scream. "LET ME GO, YOU IDIOTIC DORITO OF DOOM!"

"WHY YOU INSIGNIFICANT INSECT!" Starscream shrieks angrily, obviously offended.

"I'd rather be an insect than Megatron's bitch," I snarl. Light explodes around me as Starscream raises his servo to crush me, but I roll away, hitting the floor hard, but running, ducking underneath a metal underhanging. Starscream shouts with displeasure.

"GET BACK HERE, BRATLING!" he snarls.

I almost reply back as childishly as I can, but I stop myself, reminding myself that I don't need to make myself sound stupid. "Wow, you are really, really stupid, aren't you? I mean, you just got tricked by a kid!" I taunt.

"BE SILENT AND GET BACK HERE!" he screams. I rub my head in mock pain.

"Wow, you scream like a girl, Dorito," I spit.

"YOU LITTLE-" Starscream begins, but a shout that shakes the room overpowers him.

"ENOUGH!"

I snap my mouth shut and retreat further into the recess that I found, hiding from view. I hear crashing and muffled grovelling, then silence. "Girl, get over here, now," Megatron orders.

Apparently both Optimus AND Megatron can do the taking away of will thing, because I definitely did not want to go out there. But I did, glaring defiantly at the giant mech who glared back at me just as coldly.

"That's not cool. You just don't take away someone's will from them. Then again, you also just don't kidnap people or start wars, but I guess it's explainable since you're missing something in that empty processor of yours," I spit.

Megatron almost went for me. He had raised his servo up as though to strike me, before slowly lowering it again, chuckling slightly. "You enjoy doing that, don't you?" he asks.

"Doing what?" I snap, crossing my arms.

"Being annoying," he replied.

"Most people who have an ounce of intelligence tend to stay away from annoying people, so yeah, I enjoy being annoying," I replied scathingly.

"You want people to stay away from you?"

"I want all of YOU ASSHOLE DECEPTICONS to leave me alone," I reply, putting extra emphasis on the Decepticon part.

"You are under the impression that our cause is not the just one. Do you truly believe that the so called villain is wrong, like all of your human literature says?" he growled.

"No, cause you see, the villain is normally RIGHT. It's just the means by which they use to reach their goal is what makes them a villain. You were right, once. The system needed to change on Cybertron so that the poor could have more rights and a say in the Senate, but when you sided with the Fallen, you went over to the dark side, as one would say, and ruined everything. You pulled an Elphaba and made it so your cause no longer held the support of the people and then you made the really big mistake of starting a war," I say.

"You know of the Fallen?" he asks in surprise.

"Yeah, and by the way, he loses, and so does Sentinel Prime, who plans on killing you after bringing Cybertron to Earth, which also fails mostly. But I could be wrong, because this universe went off the deep end and is all sorts of screwed up now…" I muse. "You should be dead right now, but you're not… You die again after the whole Sentinel thing, but in the fourth movie that just came out and I didn't get the chance to see, I'm pretty sure you're back again…."

Megatron stares at me for a moment, and I take that time to retreat back under the recess in the metal, out of sight once more.

"Oh, and Dorito of Doom gets killed from eating a bomb. I suggest you try that, Dorito!" I call out tauntingly.

"Keep it up, bratling, and you will be the one killed by a bomb," Starscream threatened.

"Better than being by you," I taunt back, a bit of delight coming from the arguing. I always had loved arguing.

"Enough," Megatron ordered again. "As amusing as it is to have Starscream at a loss for words, it is not necessary."

"Says you," I call back. "If you haven't noticed, I don't really value your opinion."

"Neither did Samuel James Witwicky, but at least he had respect," Megatron growled.

"I give respect to those who deserve it. You're just a tool that gets used and tossed away a bunch of times," I growl back.

"And you are not?" Starscream interjects.

"Hey, Dorito. I don't remember you being invited to this conversation. This is an A-B conversation, C yourself out," I snap.

"You dare-" he began.

"Stop right there before you make a fool of yourself. I almost started laughing because you were trying to make yourself seem important," I say, crossing my arms.

I was extremely surprised by the booming laugh that met my statement, the cruel edge to it the only thing familiar about it. "Are you…. laughing, Megatron? I didn't know that evil warlords could laugh," I comment dryly.

"Master, I fail to see the humor in this," Starscream grumbled.

"Are you not gone yet? Shoo. Go away, Dorito," I snap.

I leap back as a clawed servo swiped underneath the alcove, nearly getting to me, but missing.

"Missed me!" I taunt. "Wow, you are such a loser," I declare.

"Starscream, leave. You obviously cannot deal with the child if she can get the better of you in such little time."

"Aw, don't feel bad, Dorito. I almost fooled Ratchet into letting me walk around base after I broke my leg. I'm just that annoying," I mock console.

"Come here, Girl," Megatron ordered. I step back into the room a little bit. It's enough to be called coming to him. "I said come here, Girl," Megatron growls, pointing to a bit of ground in front of him. I walk, grumbling the entire way, to that spot, crossing my arms and glaring at the ground.

Biting claws close around me, lifting me off the ground. Faint trails of blood slip down my arms, and I bite my tongue, again, to keep from yelping in pain.

"Ever heard of a nail file? You need one," I snipe instead, leaning as far away from the claws as I can.

"What, no struggling?" Megatron sneers.

"Uh, no. I already fell from Ironhide's grip, and you are a lot taller than he is. I don't want a repeat of the incident, especially because you probably wouldn't be too upset if you stepped on me," I reason grumpily.

"So you can be taught," he rumbles in mock surprise.

"No, not at all. I only come from a universe that figured out all this technology stuff WITHOUT stealing from you," I snap sarcastically.

"Are you sure?" he asks.

"I'm positive. Nothing interesting ever happens in my world. Nothing like this, at least. The closest you can get is through books and movies," I say. "Where is Sam, by the way?"

"I am not going to tell you. I do not trust you to find him and release him from where he is being kept," Megatron said simply.

"Well at least you're honest for once. You really shouldn't trust me, anyways. I have major authority issues," I say.

"Who told you that?" Megatron asks in mock surprise.

"A couple of the councillors I have ever had to see," I say.

"And how many is that?"

"I was on number 28 before all this happened. Dang. I went through another one. And I liked her, too," I muse. "Where are we going?"

"My office," he replies.

"Really? Evil Warlord has an office? How lame is that?" I ask.

"Where else am I supposed to do all the evil paperwork?" he asked sarcastically.

"That's a good point. Paperwork sucks," I say.

"What do you know of paperwork?"

"Do you know how much paperwork it is to draw up a contract, then later fire a person? It's awful! Especially when you are friends with the person you fire," I say, shaking my head.

"You went to an odd school," Megatron comments. He sets me down none to gently and pulls out some of the tablets that all these aliens seemed to have. I peer at one, briefly reading its contents until I came across a glyph I didn't know.

"What's that one mean?" I ask.

"It is a name," he replied.

"Are you going to tell me the name?" I ask.

"It's Barricade," he replies gruffly, still basically ignoring me.

I read it carefully. "Why are you ordering Barricade to be hunted down?"

"Why are you being nosy?" Megatron growled evasively.

"Because I never found out what happened to Barricade. He wasn't at the battle except for at the beginning, and he doesn't show up in any movie after," I reply.

"Barricade deserted when he thought the Autobots would win. I do not allow deserters to live," Megatron growled.

"Why? Wouldn't it be easier to let him live and just ignore him? He's not hurting anyone," I reply.

"Because then others would desert and they would think that they will not be punished for it," Megatron snarled.

"Why would they need to know? I thought you were the top dog around here? Why would they care, anyways? They would probably just think that you had ulterior motives and be done with it," I reply, backing away slightly from the enraged tyrant.

Yes, I could be making a run for it, looking for Sam and getting us both out. That is what a person in a book would do, with the villain being too stupid to notice. But, I'm not that stupid heroine that takes that chance. I know that I won't get out of here on my own, and definitely not with Sam, and I know that the super advanced and intelligent robot wasn't going to be stupid enough to not watch me to make sure I wasn't planning anything. If anything, it would probably only get me trapped in the same place they're keeping Sam, unable to get out.

"How did you even read that?" Megatron snapped, looking up from the tablet to actually glare at me.

"Uh… do I have to answer that?"

"Yes," Megatron snapped impatiently.

"Optimus grounded me, and I was bored, so I asked him if he had anything I could read, but it was all in Cybertronian, so I had to use a dictionary to figure out what the words were, and I learned by doing that," I explain in a rushed voice.

Megatron stares for a second before picking up the tablet I had been looking at, tapping it for a moment, before pushing it over to me carefully. "What does it say?"

I look at it for a moment, having to skip over an unfamiliar glyph. "Um, "My student, you must kill…. someone…. for me to rise again." I think," I reply.

"Prime. The glyph you didn't read was Prime," he said quietly. "Prime taught you read in the language of the Primes. That should not have happened," he added.

"Well, it did. Can't really change it," I reply, pushing it back over.

"You were not surprised by the message?"

"Nope. It's from the Fallen. He can only be defeated by a Prime. Though, there isn't a real point. I mean, what kind of a moron goes around thinking that he's invincible and only one specific mech can kill him? That's… stupid," I say, shaking my head.

"Mind your tongue when you speak of him. He holds immense power that you cou-" Megatron began.

"He can make things float and he can teleport from place to place. That's not that cool. I mean, that's like, combining Nightcrawler and Jean Grey together. Only he's an uglier combo," I say.

"That is not all the power he has, he-"

"Also can control the Matrix of Leadership, though I think that it's kind of dumb that he still can, I mean, didn't he get stripped of his title as a Prime when he turned on his brothers?" I ask.

"You know what the artifact is?" he asks.

I raise an eyebrow. "You don't? Wow. He really doesn't trust you, does he?"

"It is dangerous to trust in our faction," Megatron said. "You say he was once a Prime as well?"

"Yeah. That's the reason why he is called the Fallen. He is the original Decepticon, according to… I'm not going to say who said it, because I'm not sure if I have the right mech or if I'm confusing this with someone else…. Anyways, he fell because he wanted to destroy the life on this planet, and they weren't allowed to, so he turned on the other Primes and they sacrificed their lives to keep the Matrix hidden," I explain.

"He told me that his brothers turned on HIM," Megatron growled.

"History is written by the victors, not the losers," I say. "Just think of what the history books would say about Hitler if he had won the war. He wouldn't be a sadistic bastard, he would be a hero, saving us from those that were less superior to us," I spit, shaking my head.

Megatron paused a moment to research what the heck I was talking about, then decidedly not commenting on it. Instead, he tapped the tablet some more before passing it back over.

"These are the rules you must follow while here. If you do not, then you will be severely punished," he growled.

"You didn't add a gas chamber into the punishment, did you," I ask snidely.

"No. Why would I? You don't need to breathe," Megatron countered, just as snide.

"Touche," I concede, reading the stupid list.

"Uh, this thing is stupid. There is no way I am ever following this," I say after reading the first line.

Do not antagonize Starscream

"You WILL follow it," Megatron growled.

I roll my eyes but continue reading.

Do not wander out of sight of Megatron

"Nope. I'm only on the second rule, and I know that this will never work. Never," I say.

"Read the third and make an attempt to follow it," Megatron growled.

I was compelled to read the next one.

Do not speak unless spoken to

I snap my head up to glare at the tyrant, who wasn't looking at me, but I'm sure he saw.

Do not cause trouble

This was ridiculous. Megatron was taking away my personality!

Do not mock Ravage

I frown and raise my hand as though I were at school. Megatron turned his helm in surprise.

"What?"

"Why can't I mock Ravage?" I ask.

"Because Ravage will crush you if you do," Megatron said. I stare at him for a moment before shaking my head. I stand up, pushing the tablet away.

"What are you doing?" he asked me.

"I'm going to annoy Ravage," I say.

"No wandering out of my sight," Megatron reminded. I pause.

"I'm not wandering, I'm exploring, and I'm not going out of your sight. You have eyes everywhere, remember?" I say. Wording was everything.

I was off the table as quickly as I could, hitting the ground at a dead run, getting out of the room before Megatron protests against it.

I get lost. Really, very, truly, hopelessly lost. I think I might be going in circles, actually, no matter how many different routes I take.

"Who the heck designed this thing! It's a freaking labyrinth!" I shout. I guess the no talking rule only applies when there are other beings in the room.

I turn again, seeing some kind of clear tank with a heavily beaten up body in it. "Sam?" I ask silently. I knock on the glass.

The head snaps up, eyes sharp and actions defensive. Then he relaxes, realizing who I am.

"Caity. He got you, too?"

"Yeah, at the base. Are… are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm okay. How are you alive? There's not enough oxygen in the air out there for a human to survive," Sam said.

I step further into his line of sight. He stares at me with horror. "The All Spark did it. Happened to my friends, too," I explain. "I don't need to breathe."

"How did you get over here?" Sam asks.

"I… don't laugh, okay? I got lost," I admit. Sam snorts, standing up weakly, and now I can see the faint traces of metal on his skin.

"It's happening to you, too, isn't it?" I ask.

"Yeah. Just… a lot slower than you, I guess," Sam said. I get closer to the tank, examining him with a critical eye.

"I don't think you'll get the wings. I hope you don't get the wings. They're pretty painful," I say.

"You said you got lost. Where were you going?" Sam asked.

"I was going to annoy Ravage," I say.

"Who?" Sam asks.

"You haven't met him. He's a cat-like Decepticon. Big, predator, kill you in a microsecond cat, not sweet, fluffy, housecat," I say.

"And you are going to annoy him…. why?" Sam asks.

"Because I was told that I wasn't allowed to mock him. So I'm going to annoy him," I say with a cheerful smile.

"You're one of those kids that plays off technicalities to get out of trouble, aren't you?" Sam asked.

"Why, I would never! It's all about the wording, though," I say.

"Well, when you get destroyed, come visit me again," he said, sitting back down against the side of the tank.

"Sam…. what did you mean that there wasn't enough oxygen in the air for a human to survive?" I ask cautiously.

"Caity… didn't they tell you? It's the first thing they told me…. We're in space," he said. I freeze. Hadn't I seen a window at some point? I hadn't thought to look through it. I dart out of the room, searching for the window I saw. Of course, me with my luck, I found Ravage.

"What are you doing here, bratling?" he growled at me.

"Looking for the window I saw," I reply, going right past him.

"It is not this way. You passed it," Ravage replied.

"Oh," I say, turning around and walking back the way you came.

"Why do you wish to see a window?" Ravage asked.

I glare at him. "I want to see if Megatron was lying to Sam," I say.

"What do you believe he lied about?" Ravage asked.

"Being in space," I reply.

"We are in space," Ravage said simply.

"Well, I want to see it for myself," I reply.

"Why? There is nothing interesting to see," Ravage grumbled.

"You don't think so. You've probably been in space a gagillion times, but I've never been to space. Most of the time I can't even see the stars because of all the light pollution in the cities," I say.

"You have never been in space?" Ravage asks incredulously.

"No. I'm from Earth, remember? We haven't even explored our entire world and we LIVE on it. Space exploration where regular civilians can go into space is a long way off," I snap. I go to turn left.

"That's the wrong way," Ravage butts in.

"Well, thanks. Though, I'm sure I'll find it eventually," I say.

"Do you not remember the way back to it?" Ravage asks, again, very confused.

"Uh, no. I am awful with directions," I say.

"You are terrible with directions and you wandered off by yourself?" Ravage growled.

"I'm terrible with directions and I went EXPLORING by myself. I don't exactly have anyone to explore with me, do I?" I snap, scuffing my now very worn sneakers on the metal floor, making a loud, high pitched screech and a little white line. I sigh and scuff that off, annoyed that it had done that.

"Don't do that. The noise is annoying," Ravage growled.

"You don't have to stay, then," I say, walking faster than the cat-like bot. Ravage increased his stride easily, walking beside me again.

"You will get lost," Ravage replied.

"Why do you care?" I snarl.

"You are of value to my master. Megatron will rip me apart if I did not follow you," Ravage said.

"I thought Soundwave was your master," I say.

"He is my Creator. He is not my master," Ravage explains.

"Oh… huh, interesting. So, your… Creators…. they're like your parents, right?" I ask.

"...Yes. They are like our parents. You no longer have your Creators, do you?" he asked. He sounded almost pitying.

"I haven't lived with my parents for years. I lived with my aunt and uncle," I say curtly.

"Did your Creators die?" he asked. I stop, sigh, glaring at the ceiling.

"No. They weren't dead," I say, before continuing forward.

Ravage bounded forward again, nearly making me run into him if I didn't stop. "Then why did you not live with them?" he pressed.

"That's a good question that I'm not going to answer," I say.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I don't want to," I growl.

"Why?" he asked again.

"Because I don't like talking about it, Olaf," I snarl.

"Who is Olaf?"

"It's from a movie that hasn't been made in this dimension," I sigh. I move around him, walking forward again.

"Did they abandon you?" he asked.

I snarl and spin around, not flinching back when I see him right behind me. Instead I raise a finger in warning, glaring at him fiercely. "You ever hear the saying, "Curiosity killed the cat?"," I ask.

"Yes…?"

"Keep it up and it won't be curiosity that kills you," I spit, turning around and stalking forward.

"So… they did abandon you," he concluded. I spin, slamming my fist on his helm, making him growl and shake it, his red eyes brightening with anger. "There is no need for you to be violent, bratling," he growled.

"There's no need for you to be nosy, either," I snap.

"There are many reasons to be nosy. You are not from this dimension, you were human, and while you talk a lot, you actually reveal very little about your past," he said.

"It's none of your business. It doesn't pertain to you. If I told you I'd have to kill you. All that other mumbo jumbo," I say facetiously.

"Bratling," Ravage said after a moment of sweet silence.

"What?" I snap.

"The window you spoke of is on the left," he said. I turn left, staring up at the window high above my head. I carefully climb a little bit until I'm about fifteen feet under it instead of forty, before stopping and resting.

"Are you injured?" he asks.

"No, I'm fine. I just am taking time to climb the rest of the way up," I say, beginning to climb again.

"I wouldn't grab onto the one," he warns. I pause, staring carefully at the bar I had been about to grab. It didn't look like it was bad or anything.

"Why?" I ask.

"No reason, I was just seeing if you would listen to me," Ravage said. I narrow my eyes, but I use another bar to pull myself up the final stretch of wall and onto the window sill.

"Whoa," I say, impressed. I am tempted to press my face up against the glass, but I can't actually see the glass, so I decide better of it.

Ravage is suddenly next to me, barely small enough to fit on the sill, but still is. "It does not look any different to me," he said.

"It looks pretty to me," I say, my eyes wide as I look at the trillions of bright lights surrounding us. Below us is…. "Is that Jupiter?"

"Yes. Why is it so fascinating to you?" he asked.

"Because it's not Earth or the Moon. It's new to me," I explain in exasperation. I sit down and just stare.

"Then why do you get upset when I ask questions about you? You are new to me," he said.

"Because I'm not as interesting as Jupiter," I reply, not moving my eyes from the window.

"How do you know that?" Ravage asked.

"Because I'm not that interesting. I'm just me," I say. Ravage paces behind me before lying down, curling up into a ball that rests against my back. I scoot away, he scoots closer. I scoot all the way to the glass, he follows.

"Would you stop that?" he snaps when I make to move away again. "I'm trying to nap."

"Why do you keep following me if you're trying to nap?" I snap.

"You are warm," he replies, leaving me dumbfounded.

"What?" I ask.

"You are warm, bratling. There is not a lot of warm things in space," he growls.

I blink, trying to decide how to reply to that. When I finally do, no sound comes out of my mouth. Apparently there is a time limit that I can respond to something someone said to me.

Instead, I scoot away again, just enough that I can cross my legs indian style and stare out the window more comfortably.

Ravage growls, gets up, and circles around me, curling up against my back and wings while at the same time wrapping his tail around my waist and keeping me still.

'The big bad kitty cat likes to cuddle. Who would have thought?' I think, staring out at space. 'I wonder how the guys are doing?'


	11. A New Point Of View

_**Here you go, lovelies! Please leave me reviews, they add to my insanity and they brighten my day! Anyways, here is... chapter 11. It IS cahpter 11, right? Right.**_

The guys, if you wanted to know, were currently pacing Optimus' office angrily, shooting dirty looks at the Autobot Commander.

"Sending me dirty looks will not help your cause," Optimus growled in frustration.

Luke scowled, glancing at the door, wishing it would open and give them an escape. "He could have killed her by now," he growled.

"He wouldn't harm her. Not with the amount of All Spark energy she carries. If she was harmed, it was only in the attempt of subduing her," Optimus assured.

"It doesn't matter! She should be here!" Kain snarled, glaring at the door as well.

"She is perfectly safe. She probably has free reign of the Decepticon base, even," Optimus said.

"Oh, yeah, because that makes sense. She could just walk out, then," Michael growled.

"No, that is not possible," Optimus said, going much quieter than they had heard him before.

"Why?" Luke asked.

"Because the Decepticon base, the Nemesis, is in space, somewhere around Jupiter," Optimus reported.

Silence. Then the uproar came. "YOU DIDN'T THINK TO MENTION THIS EARLIER?" Luke snarled. Optimus flinched at his tone, but quickly regained his composure.

"I fail to see how this would have helped you," he growled.

"Does it look like we care about whether it could help us or not? She's in space! Actually, she probably won't even mind being kidnapped now, because, I mean, it's space. That's pretty cool," Kain said, shouting at first, then changing his voice to contemplative towards the end.

"Okay, you can't talk about space in a good way. Though, if I had to pick a place to be taken if I were kidnapped, it would definitely be space," Michael complained.

"Guys, focus, she's with Decepticons, and even if they aren't hurting her, she's probably annoying the hell out of them, or they're annoying the hell out of her, either way, the outcome isn't going to be good. Someone is going to get hurt by the end of this," Luke said.

"It's not going to be her! Robots or not, she still is scary as hell when she's angry," Kain said quietly.

Optimus was about to butt in when the door opened and the guys dashed out. "GET BACK IN HERE!" Optimus ordered. You could hear the sharp squeak from their shoes as they suddenly stopped, and the groans after as they trudged back over, glaring at the mech.

Ironhide awkwardly apologized, closing the door firmly to prevent any more escapades. "Sir, Lennox and his team are also growing anxious, and we cannot hold them in the Autobot Hanger forever. They will need to be allowed out at some point, and one of them is going to blab," Ironhide said.

"Wait, what do you mean, blab?" Michael asked.

"You did not think that we told the human government of your existence, did you?" Optimus asked incredulously.

"Uh, we didn't actually think about it. We were a little busy with the whole everything that's been going on for a few days," Luke said. "Why wouldn't you tell the government about us?"

"How well do you think they would take it if they found out that four children travelled across a dimension from the future, and now had technology embedded in their bodies from a different world?" Ironhide growled.

"Not…. not very well. So, why would you be keeping Lennox and his team in the Autobot hanger?" Kain said.

"We are discussing how we should classify her missing status without revealing who she is. The humans are… getting anxious for an answer as to why we have four unidentified beings on base and why one of them has now gone missing. We are also having trouble identifying how you are all connected. According to Captain Lennox, the government might not understand the relationship between three males and a female, though I can't imagine-"

"Put us down as siblings, if you have to. It will be less confusing," Luke said.

"But you do not share blood," Ironhide protested.

"Not all siblings share blood. Some are adopted, some are step-siblings. It doesn't matter, put us down as siblings," Kain said wisely.

"And if we let them think anything different, Caity would kill us," they said together.

Optimus and Ironhide finally seemed to figure out what they were hinting at. "They do realize that you are only children, correct?" Ironhide asked.

"With the way we look now, I'm not even sure that they would realize that we are human," Luke muttered.

"You aren't, though," Ironhide began before shutting up, looking apologetically at Optimus. "Sorry, Optimus."

"It's fine, Ironhide. They would find out soon, anyways," Optimus vented.

"Uh, what would we find out? That we aren't human anymore? I think that everyone can see that, but we still are… what's the word I'm thinking of Ca- oh right, she's not here…. Human-ish," Luke said.

"Human-ish?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah, you know, we still act like humans, not like… well, you guys," Kain supplied.

"Ya act like humans? Weirdest humans I've evah seen," Jazz said, walking in.

"You've seen a lot of them, I suppose. A socially awkward teen, a prep, and trained soldiers. That is such a good reference for human behavior," Luke said sarcastically.

"Don't forget yaselves. With all o' that, I have a great basis for human behavior," Jazz said, just as sarcastically.

"Now I see why you're in her top two favorites," Luke said.

"I thought it was top three," Kain said.

"No, she kicked Prime off the list," Michael said.

"How does Jazz make it on the list, he dies in the first movie after saying two lines!" Kain argues.

"But Jazz is awesome. That's why. Awesomeness automatically puts you on her top favorites list," Luke said.

The Autobots just sat listening to them casually discuss Caity's favorites as though they weren't there.

::Bad luck, Boss Bot. Shouldn't have yelled at her.:: Jazz said over a private comm. line.

::Don't start this, Jazz.:: Optimus warned.

::Aw, is Boss Bot jealous?:: Jazz teased, trying to get a rise out of his superior.

::Jazz, enough.:: Optimus ordered, still calmly.

"But, wait, why did Optimus get kicked off the list?" Kain asked.

"Because he made us break Rule 2," Luke said.

::Really Boss Bot? You made them break Rule 2? Prowler would have had your helm if he heard that!:: Jazz taunted.

::Are you attempting to be more annoying than her?:: Optimus growled.

::Unless you want them to witness you two fighting for no apparent reason, both of you shut your yaps.:: Ironhide snarled over their comm. They quieted.

"Eh, don't worry, Optimus. Caity is incapable of hating someone," Kain assured.

"Is she?" Optimus asked cryptically.

"She says that she only hates one person, and that is her biological mom," Luke said solemnly.

"Why would she-" Ironhide began.

"You'll have to ask her yourself," Luke interrupted sharply.

"Will she tell us?" Jazz asked.

"Yes. She doesn't hide her past. She'll just be super pissed at you afterwards, and you have to actually ask her what happened, not just about her past," Kain said.

"Dude, she didn't tell me," Michael complained.

"You also had just been teasing her and she was pissed already," Luke said, lightly shoving him. "How do you know all of this, anyways?" he asked.

Another mech stepped into the room. The guys stared at him, slack jawed.

"Didn't Caity say that that was Barricade? The Decepticon?" Michael asked distrustfully.

"You know, the one that Bumblebee beat the shit out of and disappeared sometime before the battle started?" Kain added.

"Not to mention kept bothering us when we first got here, and the only reason that we realized who he was was because Caity saw his alt-mode and recognized it?" Luke butted in.

They all glanced at the space where Caity would have been, as though waiting for her comment, but, of course, she was in space, probably annoying the crap out of Decepticons.

"Aren't you missing the polite one?" Barricade snarled.

"Wait, what polite one?" Jazz asked.

"The female," Barricade replied.

This stumped the mechs for a moment. "Caity?" Ironhide finally concluded. He sent out a holographic image. "This girl?"

Barricade nodded. "Yes, that one," he said.

"Are you certain, Cadey?" Jazz asked.

"Don't call me that," Barricade growled. "I am certain. It is hardly difficult to remember the only female in the group," he added, clearly offended. "Why is it that you are having so much trouble believing that?"

"Because she has not proven to be very polite," Ironhide grumbled.

"She NORMALLY is polite to people, it's not in her to be deliberately cruel, but she's kind of been under a lot of stress lately. Can you blame her for being like she has been?" Kain replied.

"Oh, and by the way, CADEY? You guys are on nick-name terms with a Decepticon?" Luke asked, turning on Jazz.

"Of course I'm on nick-name terms with 'im. He's ma mechlin'," Jazz explained.

"Uh, sorry? Yeah, uh, we don't know what that means?" Michael said slowly. Jazz's optics shuttered for a second.

"Oh. Forgot. He's my SON," he explained.

"OOOH," the guys said together.

"I bet Caity knows the who the other parent is," Michael muttered.

"Well, ya will meet him soon, he's on his way ovah from space. Should arrive in a week. If she can tell me his name, then… hmmm, what exactly are we going to bet on," Jazz asks.

The guys look at each other, thinking. "If you wins, we don't bug you for an entire day, if Caity wins, then you HAVE to give her a ride," Luke finally says.

"I get the feeling that that would not bode well with her," Jazz said evasively.

Luke thought about it for a moment. "Fine, then you have to teach her how to drive," he said, grinning.

Jazz would have paled had he not been made of metal. "I get the feeling that that won't bode well for ME," he said nervously.

"What? Are you nervous of teaching a fifteen year old to DRIVE? You can always help her along the way if she messes up, anyways," Michael said slyly.

"Besides, she was supposed to start driving soon, anyways," Kain said.

"I'm being ganged up on. How do you know she'll be okay with this?" Jazz asked, really nervous now.

They grinned. "She won't she doesn't like betting," they said as a team. Luke held out his arm for them to shake on it, and Jazz shook it gently, not wanting to take the entire arm off.

"If she kills me, I'm haunting you," he warns.

"If she manages to kill you, chances are she'll be haunting us before you are even aware that you can haunt people," Luke replied.

"Or, you know, he'll be haunting ghosts because we made her kill him…" Michael said.

"Either way, we're screwed if you die while teaching her to drive, but it's too late to back away now," Kain said cheerfully.

"Back to what we are SUPPOSED to be talking about, what are you doing here?" Luke asked Barricade.

"I have been a spy for the Autobots since the war began. I have "defected from the Decepticon cause" so as to prevent my offlining were I discovered. My information is how Prime knows of the Decepticon base."

"Oh. Do you know anything that's going on right now?" Luke asks.

Barricade nods slowly. "I have an inside source. He is the brother of the symbiote the girl completely destroyed. It was… a very effective way to permanently end him," Barricade went on. "He has been known to fool many with his supposed death that way, and now he cannot."

"Wait, Caity killed Frenzy?" Optimus asked sharply.

"It was a group effort. Samuel's companion beheaded him, and the female, Caity, stomped his helm into the ground," Barricade reported. "No medic could have saved him. He was, what is the human saying, ah, yes, flat as a pancake."

"Did she give a reason for this?" Optimus asked.

"Yes. Apparently she was saving lives, and the time of the soldiers to get help, though I am not sure as to what she was referring to," Barricade said.

Everyone looks at Luke. "What, with Caity not here, you all assume that I know what she was talking about?" he protests. They continue looking. "He was going to get into the Dam and be rebuilt by the Cube and he nearly makes it so the hackers, Simmons, and Sec Def couldn't get help from the Air Force…." he says, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"You've been hanging out with Caity too much, Luke," Kain said, shaking his head.

"Hey, I watched the movie, too! I can remember stuff!" Luke protested. "Besides, you're just jealous that I'm her favorite," he taunted with a smile.

"Because of Alli," Michael snapped. All smiles left Luke.

"Don't. Don't go there, Michael, or I will throw you into the wall and beat the shit out of you," he growled in warning.

The bots wisely stayed silent as to the mysterious name.

"Hey, as long as you don't say it around her, you should be okay. Besides, didn't they make up, like, last year?" Kain asked carefully.

"It doesn't matter. Caity did the right thing, and she suffered for it. That was the first time I ever saw her actually break down. Don't bring it up," Luke growled, narrowing his blue eyes.

"Hey, it was hard on all of us," Kain said.

"Yeah, but you didn't have rumors being spread about you because of what you did," Luke reminded. "Now drop it," he ordered.

They did. "How are we going to get Caity and Sam back?" Michael finally asked.

"Ravage will bring them out. He claims to be loyal to Megatron, but with the death of his brother, on Megatron's orders, he now only claims loyalty to me. He knows what Caity did, and does not blame her, he would have done the same in her situation," Barricade reported.

"Wait, Ravage… Second movie, right, Kain?" Luke asks.

"Isn't that the cat?" Kain asks.

"Yes, Ravage has a cat-like frame," Optimus said before they could get into another confusing and one-sided conversation.

"Oh, Caity and him should get along great, then," Kain said sarcastically.


	12. Mistakes Have Been Made

_**I hope you like this! I worked hard on it! Which is to say, I wrote it without much thought, I was working so hard. Anyways, chapter 12!**_

I, of course, had no idea this was happening. How could I when I was in space? My reaction to the bet was amusing, to say the least, but we'll get to that later, way way way later, you know, a thousand years later-ish.

Currently, I was aware of being uncomfortably curled up against something cold and hard, while lying closely against something that was warm, though it wasn't soft. It was also making a soothing rumbling noise I was confused for a moment, not understanding why I wasn't on my bed back home, nestled under the covers, until the warm thing moved.

I snap fully awake, not moving, but trying to figure out where I was. I see the blackness of space. I reach out and touch the invisible glass. Cold. That's what I had been laying against on one side. I sit up, blinking my eyes blearily, trying to figure out what the warm thing had been. I turn and glare at Ravage, the warm thing I had been lying against.

"Were you purring?" I try to ask, expecting my voice rough from sleep, but, of course, no sound comes out.

The noise suddenly stops abruptly, and Ravage lifts his head lazily, glaring me. I had moved away from him without realizing it. "Didn't I tell you not to move?" he growled, flicking his tail in annoyance.

"I woke up. I didn't even realize I had fallen asleep," I protest as he drags me back over to him.

"Then go back to sleep," he orders.

"I'm not a teddy bear. Let go of me," I reply.

"No. You are the closest thing to a teddy bear here," he replies, just as lazily as before.

"But I'm not a- 'et ur ail ah ai ough!" I growl. What I said was 'Get your tail off my mouth,' which you probably couldn't understand because, well, he had his tail over my mouth.

"Quiet, I'm napping."

I roll my eyes, staring at space once more. I really want to get up and move, but the dumb Decepticat won't let me without complaining about it and moving me back anyways.

I think I fall asleep again. No, I KNOW I fell asleep again, because once again I'm aware of my back pressing against the window, my wings freezing, and nuzzling against something warm and purring, Only, this time the purring seems deliberate. I'm not fully awake, just enough to get a brief knowledge of those three things.

I slowly open my eyes, squinting against the light to see Ravage watching me with interest, tail flicking every once in a while.

I sit up, waiting for him speak, but he's deciding to be slow about it. Finally, once I am completely and totally awake, he speaks.

"You fell asleep," he says.

"No? Really? Did I?" I say sarcastically.

"You were… cuddling…." he adds.

"I don't cuddle," I deny, getting to my feet and stretching with a yawn, trying to remember why I was getting up.

"You were cuddling," he repeats.

"I don't cuddle. I absorb warmth," I say defensively.

"You were cuddling," he says again, but this time he was laughing at my expense.

"Nope. Never. I told that to my siblings, and I will tell that to you. I don't cuddle. I absorb warmth while I sleep," I snap.

He rises smoothly and slides against my arm, another taunt. "You cuddle. You are in denial."

I shove him lightly, not doing anything other than pushing myself back a step. "I DON'T!"

"You do! I have video proof," he replied. As Decepticons go, he wasn't that bad. He wasn't a cruel, ruthless killer, he just followed orders and didn't really care about those he killed. But, he was as annoying as hell!

"You don't," I say, glaring at him in warning.

He sent out a holographic video of me sleeping, using Ravage's side as a pillow, one hand resting on his tail like I would if I had had my blanket from home with me. It would have been almost cute, if it weren't, well, me, and if it weren't so surreal. It looked like an angel with my looks, yet so… peaceful and innocent. I know that I wasn't like that.

"See?"

"You can alter video, you know," I say, still denying it.

"You continue to deny, I will continue to prove you are wrong. Anyways, Lord Megatron is looking for you. You apparently did not return from your search for me. Were you truly going to annoy me?" he asks.

"Did I succeed?" I ask in reply.

"Yes," he said.

"At least you're honest," I mutter, looking over the edge, pacing it.

"Did you forget how to get down?" he asks behind me.

"Yup," I say.

"Can't you just… fly, bratling?" he growls.

"Nope," I say.

"Do you not know how?"

"Nope," I say again, stepping off the side and stepping on a bar below the sill. I look down and step on the next closest bar, until I find that I made a mistake and ran out of bars.

I look up, shaking my bangs out of my eyes to try to figure out a path. Inwardly, I'm saying every curse word I know, clinging tightly onto the bar. I look down, judging the distance. About eight feet. I can jump that.

I carefully lower myself so I'm hanging, then drop, bending my knees to absorb the impact. I end up rolling off my feet from the angle that I landed, but I would rather roll than break my leg again. Ravage peers down at me, lying on my stomach, my wings spread wide because I was too lazy to close them. Ravage leapt, landing neatly right next to me, nudging me with one razor sharp claw.

I get up, dragging my feet as I did so. I had misjudged the height. It was about ten feet. Not eight. My wings trailed along the metal hallway until I folded them back up, annoyed by the sound of them scraping.

"You are forming blemishes on your arms," Ravage informed me.

I look at my arms, the small areas of skin turning a mottled purple. "Bruises. I must have hit my arms when I rolled," I explain.

"But… you do not have blood," he said, confused.

"I do too," I say, shooting him an equally confused look. Ravage's tail flashed, striking my cheek, and I felt it cut through the skin. I cry out silently, holding my hand to my cheek to stem the blood flow.

"See?"

I draw my hand back, seeing blue on my hand. I press it back quickly. "What the heck is that?"

"Energon. Did Prime not tell you?" he asked.

I begin to hyperventilate. "Would I have asked if he had?" I snap. "How is that even possible? Hearts don't make energon, they make blood!"

"You do not have a heart any longer," Ravage explained.

"Then what exactly do I have?" I snap, pulling my hand away from my face and turning on him angrily.

"You have what we have," he said.

"A spark? I don't want a damn spark, I want my heart back," I growl.

"It is not undoable," Ravage replied.

"Do you think I don't know that? Gah just, gah," I scream incoherently. I storm to the left. Ravage waits at the intersection. I turn around sharply and march back, gesturing for him to lead the way.

"You are confusing," he commented. Soon, with him leading the way, we were back at Megatron's office, much to my displeasure.

"Where have you been, Girl?" he growled.

"Staring into space," I say honestly. Megatron looks at Ravage for confirmation.

"She climbed up to a window and looked into space. I did not understand the appeal, but she said she found it…" he paused, thinking of the word I had used. "She used the term 'pretty' to describe it," he said.

"You have been staring into space for two days because you found it… pretty?" Megatron asked me. I tried to keep it together, I really did. But I burst out laughing while nodding. Ravage was at fault, really. He was snickering before I started laughing.

"Something amuses you, Girl?" Megatron growled.

"Sorry, it's just, you said pretty, and you're this giant evil warlord, and it just sounds so… WRONG," I manage to explain, bursting out laughing once more.

Ravage joins me in my laughter, which goes on until Megatron snatches me up, tearing up the last of the skin that I had on my arms, but this time, instead of red blood pouring, out, blue energon did. I give a silent scream and stop laughing, pain marring my smile into a grimace.

"Enough, Girl. I do not care if you mock my soldiers, but I will not allow you to mock me. You will learn respect," he growled, digging his claws into the metal part of my arms as well.

"I wasn't mocking you, I just found the situation funny, sorry you took it the wrong way," I say quietly, not looking up at him. After spending all that time with Ravage and not fearing for my safety for every moment of my life, I had forgotten the reason why I hate Decepticons. They're assholes.

Megatron used one of his claws to move my face up and around, facing towards him. "What happened to your face, Girl?" he growled.

"Ravage cut me, what happened to yours?" I countered.

I got an admonishing stab for that, a cut matching the other one on my cheek. "I told you not to mock me, Girl," he growled.

"It… gah, I hate this universe! I hate it!" I grumbled, jerking away as his claw was suddenly millimeters from my eye, moving my head slightly to the side.

"Why do you have so many scars, Girl," Megatron asks.

"I'm great friends with the ground," I say sarcastically. "By the way, getting cuts gives you scars. So stop cutting my skin open."

That last part was because once again, his sharp claw cut into my fragile skin, leaving a gaping holes in my cheek that was spilling energon. Megatron pulled his claw away in shock, looking at the blue liquid dotting his claw.

"It has spread? Last time I tore your flesh, there was blood," he said.

"I know. Kind of freaked me out when Ravage told me that I have a… what was it?" I ask, suddenly unable to say the word that I wanted to say, though it was on the tip of my tongue.

"Spark, Master, she has a spark," Ravage said.

"Why do you guys all speak English?" I ask.

"Because it is easier, simpler, to speak it than to send multiple data bursts over a comm. It also means that we learn the language and it cannot be hacked into. In essence, your insect's language is safer to speak than our own," Megatron explain. He transformed one of his servos so it was blunt fingered, and twisted my head around again.

"What are you doing?" I ask in the small amount of time I have to speak after he talks to me.

"Checking the progression speed. If it gets to a certain speed, a mind wipe will be required," he says.

I jerk back away from him. "I'm not having my mind wiped! No! I am keeping my mind perfectly clustered and disorganized! It's supposed to be that way!" I say, squirming against his hold in an attempt to get out.

"The effects are not permanent. It is only to ensure your base nature does not interfere with certain protocols," Megatron explained.

"This has happened to others?" I ask, my voice an optic higher than it should be.

"What is happening to Samuel James Witwicky has happened to others. What has happened to you and your… brothers, I believe Barricade reported you as before deserting, has never happened before. Nor has the All Spark ever been destroyed in the process," he said.

He moved onto examining my arms, pulling them and twisting them every which way to look. "You have the All Spark runes on your arms. That has also never happened before," he said.

"I'm sure that the All Spark didn't outright attack them and force them to take part in the transformation thingy via a blue beam," I say bitterly under my breath.

"No, none of them survived the process. That is why Samuel is confined to that tank. The other have died from too much stress on their minds," Megatron said.

"They… went brain dead?" I ask.

"Yes, that is an appropriate term for it. Their memories of their past lives interfered with certain protocols of the transformation," Megatron says.

"Why is that?" I ask.

"They were not sentient, nor were they able to adapt to the electrical currents or the internal transformation that came first," he said.

"... But that shouldn't be a problem with humans, they're highly adaptable and they can't survive without electricity, that's how we are sentient and how we can live in almost any kind of conditions," I say slowly.

"Yes, like cockroaches," a voice behind us says. I open my mouth and snap back at it automatically.

"Go away Dorito, we're having an intelligent conversation and we plan to keep it that way."

"Girl, do not antagonize Starscream," Megatron growled, crushing me in his servo.

"He antagonized me, first! It was self defense!" I protest.

"Defense from WHAT, insect?" Starscream said snidely.

"Your stupidity," I snap back.

"Coming from the insect of a race that stole technology," Starscream.

"Get your facts right, Dorito. I'm a GIRL for an alternate universe, you know, one that has all these cool toys that we DIDN'T get from you guys, because YOU DON'T EXIST!" I snap. "Funny how the only two known dimensions both have humans, but only one has you guys. I wonder how that works on the important scale of life, hmm?"

"You are very adept at avoiding rules, aren't you, Girl?" Megatron growled.

"I have to be. Technicalities can get you out of owing a sibling fifty bucks," I say.

"You owed one of your siblings fifty dollars?" Ravage asks.

"No, one of my sisters got out of owing me fifty dollars, adding to the seventy-one dollars she owed me, because of a technicality," I grumble. "Now I'm never gonna get paid back."

"One of your sisters owed you seventy-one dollars? How does a sibling develop such a debt?" Ravage asked.

"She was terrible with keeping money, so she would ask me for it, and then she hit a mercedes, so she couldn't pay me back. I probably wouldn't have made her pay me back, anyways," I say.

"That is…. interesting. Why would you continue to loan her money when she did not repay you?" Ravage asked.

"Because she's my sister. Why wouldn't I?" I ask.

Ravage didn't comment, but Starscream did. "That is why you insects should have died out long ago," he spat.

He did not just insult my sisters indirectly. He did NOT. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but somehow, in a flash of power, I went from Megatron's servo to Starscream's helm, and one of Starscream's optics was now lying on the ground, and then I was being held back by Ravage while Starscream howled in pain.

The worst part was, I had no idea what had just happened, but Megatron was looking at me with such a calculating gaze that honestly, I was terrified. My anger induced haze lifted, and I stopped fighting Ravage, cupping my hands over my mouth in horror. What had I just done? I normally worked so hard to control my short temper. What had-?

I took multiple deep breaths as Starscream continued to shout in pain. Then I put my hands over my ears, not being able to take the screaming. It brought back too many memories. Megatron finally got Starscream out, via tossing the screaming mech out of the room with orders to see the medic, and the screams were cut off, the door being soundproof.

"Come here, Girl," Megatron ordered gently. Instead of being compelled to listen, I flinch away, scooting away from both Ravage and Megatron.

"Don't touch me," I order, my hands shaking horrifically.

"Girl, come here, it's alright," Megatron tried again. The fact that he was speaking gently and not angrily was unnerving, I back away more, until I'm on the very edge of the desk, still shaking badly. I'm staring at my hands, which have glowing blue liquid on them. Oh my gods, I had energon on my hands. Cybertronian blood, basically.

Let me stop there and tell you something about me. I'm not squeamish about blood. At all. I never have been. But I have never been able to handle it when people injure their eyes. I just can't do it. So, to know that this energon came from Starscreams optic, well, it didn't sit well with me.

"Bratling, go over to Megatron," Ravage coaxed, using his tail to bring me back from the edge. I jump away from it, suddenly across the room. I gasp, looking around me in shock. Ravage was staring at the place where I had been in shock, while Megatron was scanning the room for me.

"Girl you must calm down," Megatron growled, spotting me. Yes. Telling me to calm down was totally going to work.

Ravage comes near me again, and I'm gone once more, staring through thick glass.

"Caity?" a voice asks. I spin, staring in horror at Sam.

"Stay back. Don't come near me!" I order, going to the opposite side of the tank and resting against the wall. Oxygen flooded into my body, calming me down. Weird how much I had missed it when I hadn't really given it a second thought.

Sam backs up as well, looking scared. "What happened?"

"I… I don't know, one minute I was yelling at Starscream and the next he insulted my sisters, and the I somehow took out his optic, and now I'm teleporting everywhere, and I'm so confused, and Sam, I'm scared, I don't know what's going on!" I say, tears coming down my face as I break down from the stress.

"Caity, calm… calm down. It's.. well, it's not okay, but you need to calm down or else you're going to keep teleporting all over the place," he says. I look up at him in confusion, surprised that I am cut off from him by a thick wall of glass, then again without the glass. I gasp, forcing myself to calm down, and the action stops. I'm still in the tank. I haven't moved. I'm okay.

Sam wisely doesn't reach out to grab me, but he does scoot closer.

"Hey, it's okay. You aren't teleporting anymore," he says, coughing lightly. I look at him sharply, and out of the corner of my eye, I see it. A crack. The tank has a crack in it. The oxygen has escaped, and the tank isn't replacing it quickly enough for Sam. Sam doesn't have enough oxygen.

"Oh, gods, I cracked the tank. You can't breathe," I say, taking a deep breath. Then I released it just as quickly. I didn't need to take away his oxygen.

"It's fine. I can breathe, it's just," he paused, coughing, "it's just harder," he assured.

I had an idea. It was a stupid idea. It was a really big, idiotic idea. But it might work. I concentrate on being out of the tank, visualizing where I wanted to go. I opened my eyes and I was there. I visualize going back to Sam's side, making him jump in surprise.

"Don't freak out and try to breathe as slowly and as infrequently as possible," I tell him, taking firm hold of his arm and teleporting out of the tank.


	13. Back to Earth and Artsy Endeavors

_**Here you go! If you give me reviews, I will give you another chapter today! Adding that to this one, that's a LOT to read! Here you go!**_

I open my eyes, relief at seeing Sam there with me and not in the tank. He took a shaky, shallow breath, holding it. I nod, glad that it had worked. I put a finger to my lips, drawing it away as soon as he got the message, because I didn't want to think about the dried energon on my hands.

We creep out of the room, searching the halls, when Sam finally broke the silence. "Who are we looking for?" he asked.

"Ravage," I reply shortly.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because he knows more about what's happening to us more than I do, and he's smaller, not to mention not Megatron, and I don't know how close I can get us to Diego Garcia when I teleport us back to Earth," I explain.

"Can we trust him?" he asked I turn on him, my face serious.

"Don't trust ANYONE. They will all turn your back on you in the end," I say. Then I turn around and continue walking.

I see a flash of metal go by, then go right back in front of us and stop, revealing Ravage. "Bratling! Why did you bring HIM with you?" he asked scathingly.

"Sorry Ravage," I say, grabbing Sam's arm and Ravage's whipping tail and teleport, thinking of the first place on Earth that I KNEW existed in this time. My childhood home.

We arrive successfully on the lawn. Thank gods that no adults were home. But there was a certain child that was very familiar walking towards us, having heard the noise of Ravage landing.

"Hi! Who are you guys? What are you doing here? What is that? Is that a robot? Is he a nic-" she began.

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down, sweetheart. Not so many questions. Why are you outside by yourself? Where are Kayla, Shelby, and Ellie?" I ask.

Yup. You guessed it. The over eager, overly curious little girl was me. I had gotten my years and months wrong. I hadn't moved yet. I was still in the small town that I had lived in since I was two.

Little me got very suspicious then. "How do you know my sisters?" she asked.

"Yeah, Caity, how do you know her sisters?" Sam asked.

I ignore the question. "Sweetie, I need you to go inside and forget you ever saw us. We're only part of your imagination, okay? But, before we disappear, I can tell you that everything will get better," I say, grabbing onto Ravage and Sam again and teleporting to Tranquility, Nevada. Still not the right place. I think back to the base, thinking of the Autobot Hanger and teleport us again. By this point, I'm exhausted, but I got us back.

"CAITY?" a multitude of voices proclaim. "SAM?" they say after. "RAVAGE?" they all say after that.

"Loud voices. Shut up," I growl, stumbling.

I'm assaulted by three people, all of them friendlies and hugging the life out of me. I sink into them, sighing in relief.

"Are you okay?" Someone asks. I don't know who it is, I'm too tired.

"Optimus, tell me that I don't have to follow Megatron's damn rules anymore," I order. Someone does, and I assume that it was Optimus, but either way, the compulsion to return to the base that had been eating at me since we left disappeared.

I sigh again, and I think I collapse, because my world goes dark, and I'm not aware of anything for a while. When I do wake up, it's to the sound of purring, Ravage's purring. Something has happened, good, I hope, if it means that he is still here and alive.

I open my eyes warily. I'm in the med bay. I'm sure of it. No way any other part of the base would have the equipment that was sitting around the room.

"You still cuddle," Ravage purred, nudging my side.

"I do not!" I hiss back, my voice acting like an alarm and echoing loudly around the room. Jeez, I probably just woke up everyone in the base. Only, I didn't, because Lennox and Epps are still sleeping in the chairs on the far side of the room, and Sam is as well, on the sleeping Bumblebee's servo. The only one who appeared to have woke up from my voice was Barricade. I barely bat an eye when he comes over slowly, as though he didn't want to hurt me.

"I saved your life," I tell him casually. "Megatron's not going to go after you for supposedly deserting," I say.

"Thank you for that. Ravage already informed me of this," he said.

"So, are you really Jazz's and Prowl's kid, or is that just creative liberties taken in storytelling?" I ask.

Barricade let out a booming laugh that once again seemed to wake no one. "Your brothers won the bet," he told me, "and it is true. At least, in this universe. But there may be other universes that I am not," he added thoughtfully.

"True, true… But going by that theory, there is also a world where this is all switched, like the Autobots are the bad guys and the Decepticons are the good guys," I say.

Again I winced, realizing just how loud my voice was, though I swore I was only whispering.

"What is the matter?" he asked.

"Loud," I say, shaking my head as though that would stop the loud noise. Barricade was confused but lowered his voice.

"Is this better?" he asked.

I nod. It sounded like he were talking at a regular level rather than shouting yet waking no one. I too lower my voice so that I'm barely putting air behind my words, and it comes out sounding like I was speaking in a normal tone, "Yeah, thanks."

"We are barely making noise, little one," he said, confusion still in his voice.

"Really? It sounds like we're speaking normally to me," I tell him in the same quietness I had said before.

"You must have damaged your ears when you were teleporting so irresponsibly," Ravage said.

"Hey, I had to get Sam out, I cracked the tank. I only took you along because I wasn't sure if I was going to still be awake when we got to Earth, and I had no idea what was going on, so I needed someone to explain it to Sam if it took us a while to get back here," I say.

"Ah, that would explain it," Ravage said.

"I'm sorry for killing Frenzy. I just didn't want more people getting harmed by him," I say solemnly.

"I would have done the same thing. Forget it," Ravage growled.

"Really? If someone had killed one of my sisters, I would be pissed. And out for blood," I say.

"I got my revenge for the one responsible for my brother's death. It was not you," he said.

"You…. you're blaming Starscream? I guess he DID order Frenzy to be there," I say.

"Starscream? No, Megatron. He is the one who placed such a fool as his Second in Command. That is the only one I am angered with, and my revenge was deserting his cause," he said.

I cautiously wrap my arms around his head, surprising him. "I'm sorry," I say as I hug him.

"Do not be. You lost your family as well. Though, you did meet yourself. That was the young child we met when we first landed. That was you," he said.

I sigh and pull back. "Yeah, that was me. I, she, she shouldn't have been outside by herself. She should have at least been with Shelby," I growl.

"Shelby is one of your sisters?" he asked. I smile, thinking about each of my sisters.

"Yeah. I had four sisters. Ellie, Kayla, Shelby, and Libby, in order of Oldest to youngest. I was second youngest, between Shelby and Libby," I explained. "Shelby and I were really close at that age. We hadn't started fighting yet. That wasn't until after we moved. Anyways... I always was with Shelby, I was like her shadow, I would listen to almost everything she told me to do… almost… Anyways, if I was alone, she was probably with Kayla at her grandparents, and I never hung out with Ellie that much, not unless I had nothing better to do… Dad had probably been at work, same as my step-mom… Libby would have been at daycare…. If Ellie had been at the park, that would explain why I had been home alone…" I muse.

"What were your sisters like?" Ravage asked. I perk up. I know some people would call it hero worship, but, honestly, no matter what happened, no one was better than my sisters.

"They were the best. They practically raised me. Scratch that, they DID raise me. Ellie… she's amazingly smart, nothing I could ever hope to compare to. She's a nurse, and stubborner than I am. She was the one that always scolded us when me and Shelby got in trouble. I mean, I feared disappointing her more than anyone. She's the one we went to when my dad and my step-mom were fighting. I wanted to be like her more than anything when I was younger… I was always trying to impress her. That's one of the reasons I started reading finally. Because Ellie said it was fun… She's an amazing poet, and she never said no to helping someone… no matter how she was feeling at the time. She was in college and had just gotten her White Jacket… I'm not quite sure why that is so important, but it was…. I didn't get to see her as often as I liked, but that was okay, because that made seeing her all the more enjoyable," I say, beginning with her because at the moment, I missed her the most.

"Next is Kayla, who I'm not related to by blood, but she was the one who made us food and hung out with us, and made sure that we were okay and everything. I could talk to her about anything, and I could get her completely honest opinion. She and Ellie didn't really get along because Ellie was a goodie-two-shoes while Kayla's a rebel. Kayla didn't take crap from anyone, and she is tough enough to beat the crap out of those who insult her. Even so, she's a big softie. She's engaged, and she has her own house and everything, has a good job, and she's only just graduated high school… She's the reason why I always speak my opinion, and to only give respect once its earned, but to be polite…. I guess I've kind of failed at the polite thing over the past few days, though," I say, thinking about my no-shit sibling.

"Shelby… I don't know how many times people have assumed that I'm older than her…. we're not even a year apart… She's the social butterfly, and believe when I say she could be smiling at you at the same time she insults everyone you say, and if you weren't with her all the time, you would never realize it. She's a people pleaser, and a closet geek. She and I lived with my aunt and uncle, and she went to the traditional high school. She knows EVERYONE there, it's crazy. She has friends in every circle of the social hierarchy of the school, and she's been undermining the queen bee there for three years, and she was gathering her own followers. I don't know how she can put up with it, but she's always been a drama queen and has always been good at seeing what it takes to make people like her. Me, I've never been like that. I honestly have no idea how I have any friends…"

I pause before moving onto Libby. "Libby…. She's my half-sister. She's a little spoilt brat. And I'm not being mean. I mean she is a bonafide brat. She throws tantrums when she doesn't get her way, she kicks, she screams, and she bosses everyone around like she owns the world. Plus, she bites, hard. Like, keep away when she's mad, because even though she's a little wimp, she can throw a pretty good fit…." I sigh, smiling, "But, honestly, she's amazing. She is so creative, and all she wants is some attention. WIth all the crap that she's had to go through at such a young age, I don't blame her. The smile on her face every time she sees me, it makes me feel like I'm the specialist person in the world. Ellie, Shelby, Kayla and I tend to compete for her attention, and I normally end up on the bottom… Which is to say, by the end of the visit, we got into a fight, and then we made up, and she's clinging to me, but she says I'm her least favorite out of her sisters… That's okay, though, because her other sisters are pretty great…" my voice trails off into a frown.

"I haven't seen her since I got into a fight with her mom… I didn't even say a proper goodbye…" I say.

"What of your parents? Surely they played a part in raising you?" a voice asked behind me. I realize that while I was talking, the other bots and the guys had woken up.

"Oh, hey, how much did you guys hear?" I ask.

"Since you apologized to Ravage," Ironhide replied. The other bots nodded.

"I love my dad. I do. He's a great man, and a great mechanic, and great with people. But…. he's like a giant teenager. He's not mature enough to raise kids on his own, especially not two teenagers, though, I was twelve. I know that it was a good choice, but I still can't help but be a bit… I don't know, offended? Offended that he didn't fight my aunt when she proposed to adopt me and Shelby… Like I wasn't good enough to fight for, like I was worthless…. But most of all, I felt betrayed… He's an idiot," I say, shaking my head and refusing to let tears to fall.

"But, what about your mother? You mentioned a stepmother, but not your actual mother," Ratchet said.

"My mother? No, she's the woman who gave birth to me, but she is not my mother. She… She abandoned me and my sister, Shelby, when we were two years old, at the same day care that my sister, Kayla went to. She dropped us off and she never came back… I was two years old. That's great on a kid's self esteem, don't you think. I mean, when you're a baby, you can say that maybe she didn't want to take care of us, or couldn't, but she left us like we were trash, and she didn't even show up at the damn custody court. I have to tell myself that it's not supposed to be offensive when I remember when friends of her and my dad would tell me that I look just like her. I have four fucking pictures, otherwise I wouldn't know…. and those were taken by my grandma after I had been born. Then she LIED to her family about us for TEN YEARS. My aunt Inga didn't even know about it, and she was her sister. She is the only person that I will ever hate, and I refuse to hate anyone else, because that… that monster is the only person I want to hate," I spit, glaring at the ground. Tears are rolling down my face.

"Don't any one of you tell me that you're damn sorry, either, because I wouldn't change one day in my life, because it would change who I am, an I would NEVER want to change who I am," I say, glaring at each of them in turn. "Actually, do me a favor, and just don't bring it up," I add scaldingly. My good mood that came from thinking about my sisters was gone.

I teleport to the other side of the room and back without noticing, it was only when I teleported to Optimus' shoulder that I realized what I was doing. I stopped teleporting. at once. Unfortunately, I had been halfway to whatever my next location had been and ended up fifteen feet above the ground, falling fast. I was caught by Luke, who proved to be the next one to be able to teleport, by teleporting right underneath me to grab me before I hit the floor.

"Sorry, decided to do a spontaneous trust fall," I joke as I steady myself, leaning on him for support.

"Was that a play off of Anna's line in Frozen?" Luke asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nope, but man, you should be embarrassed, KNOWING the quote, besides, she tells him to catch her, Caity just fell and expected to hit the ground and didn't." Kain said.

"You know what's sadder. You know what part of the movie it comes from," Michael said.

"You know what's sadder? All three of you knew what we were talking about the moment it was said," Luke said.

"Hey, I'm a girl. It's okay for me to have watched that movie. Besides, it's Disney. It's okay for everyone to know it," I say.

"No! No teleporting!" Ratchet protested.

Luke and I teleported over to him, standing on his shoulders. "Hey Luke!"

"What?"

"I feel like one of those cartoon angels that sit on people's shoulders and give them bad advice," I say, grinning.

We teleport to the ground before Ratchet can grab for us.

"This is fun," Luke said.

"Well, aren't you guys just special," Kain muttered sullenly. Luke and I grin at each other and teleport next to him on either side, each grabbing an arm.

"Optimus or Ironhide?" I ask.

"Ironhide," Luke said, looking at Barricade. I nod, getting his plan.

We teleport to the spy, landing on his shoulder. Kain shrieks, teleporting away from him. Luke and I laugh.

"Michael!" I call down. "You're next!"

We don't even teleport to him before he teleports to behind Kain, cowering. "Hey, apparently stress has to be present for us to teleport sporadically," I say. I teleport off of Barricade's shoulder, onto a beam running along the ceiling. I look down on the guys, grinning evilly. "This can be fun," I say. Everyone darts their heads up to look at me.

"And you guys call ME Satan," Luke says. It's funny, they're all whispering, I can tell, but they all sound like normal to me. They must be straining to hear, the guys. Or maybe I actually hadn't hurt my ears while teleporting, and this was just a natural progression of the change. That was probably true.

"Well, they hardly call me an angel," I say, appearing right next to him. When I appeared on the bed again, I hopped off and landed lightly on the ground. I stretch, shaking off the lingering uneasiness from our earlier conversation.

"Would you stop so I can scan you?" Ratchet growls. I grin, teleporting right onto his servo and standing still.

"Scan away!" I say.

He huffs, scanning me and deeming it safe for us to leave. I think he might have said that it was as long as we had supervision, but we were already gone, in the abandoned part of the base where the bunker had been replaced. I grin, teleporting into the med bay again.

"Hey, Ratchet, can I have this?" I ask, grabbing a thin sheet of steel.

"Wh-yes, it is useless to me," he said, looking like he was going to speak again, but I was already gone, back to the guys, who looked at me, confused.

"We need paint," I say.

"What colors?" Luke asked.

"Do you know where some is?" I ask.

"Yeah, what colors," Luke asked.

"Brown, blue, silver, and red," I say, looking down at the sheet. I teleport back to the med bay. "Ratchet, do you think you can help me weld something later?" I ask.

"Yes, wa-" Ratchet said, distracted for a moment, but then realizing what I had said went to change his answer, but I was already gone.

"Got the paint?" I asked. Luke holds out the paint cans.

"Did you ask to use them?" I ask. Luke nods. I look at the supplies before teleporting back to the main part of the base, where the soldiers did all of the paperwork and grabbed a dry erase marker and white board cleaner, plus a rag. Didn't want to mess up with the paint by not having something drawn out, now did we?

I planned on returning them, so I didn't ask. Besides, it couldn't be the only draw erase marker in the base, right? I appear next to Luke, drawing out what I wanted written on the sheet. I turn to him.

"Make it look cool," I say. He grins and grabs the marker, after a while ordering Kain to get him a tablet, then while Kain was still gone, ordering Michael to get him a ruler, compass, and a protractor, as well as for me to get some pencils and paper so I could do some math calculations for him.

"I need markers for all the color that you wanted, and for you to tell me how you want the letters to be…. I also need black, white, and yellow paint," he told me.

"I'll go get the paint and markers first, you keep sketching it out," I say. I teleported around the base, searching for the markers, amazed that there was a white dry erase marker. Someone might miss that, but they would have to deal with the lime green that I left behind. I brought them back to Luke.

"Where's the paint?" I ask.

"Get it from Jazz. Only Jazz. No one else will get it for you," he warns. I nod, grinning.

"Where's Jazz?" I ask.

"He should still be in the Autobot Hanger. Be quiet," he warned.

I appear next to Jazz, surprising him. "Jazz, we need more paint," I tell him.

"Didn't I just give ya some?" he asked.

"Yeah, but we need more colors. White, black, and yellow," I told him. He nods, pulling them out from nowhere. I grin, taking them, disappearing just as Ironhide spotted me.

I was laughing as I appeared next to Luke, handing over the paint. "Hide almost caught me!" I say, looking down at the math he had been doing while I was gone, taking it from him and checking over it, fixing some of the mistakes he had made. I looked at his drawing. "Your angling is wrong on this one," I tell him. He looks at my calculations, confused.

"What, no," he disagrees.

"Yes you did! See here?" I ask, pointing to one of the numbers, "oh, wait, no, that's right, see, you forgot to carry the four here," I tell him.

He grabs his own calculations, looking between both of ours. "No I didn't, what four are you talking about?" he asks.

"Eight times five is forty, Luke. You didn't carry the four," I tell him impatiently, pointing it out to him.

"No, no, you don't take eight times five, you take eight times four and carry the three," he argues, pointing to where you were apparently supposed to carry the three.

Kain reappears empty handed. "Sorry, I couldn't find one," he tells us.

"Really? Why didn't you just ask Optimus?" I say.

"He doesn't have one in English," Kain said. I roll my eyes.

"Tell us who is right with the math while I go get the damn tablet," I say, teleporting to Optimus.

"Helo, Caity," he says.

"Hey, can we borrow a tablet?" I ask.

"What for?" he asks.

I shrug. I really didn't know. "Luke needs it," I say.

"I do not have anything in English," he says.

"Oh, Luke won't be the one using it, I will. But he needs it for something," I tell him.

"I suggest you ask Lennox, then. It will be easier to figure out," he tells me. I think he's worried we're going to ruin it. I sigh, teleporting rapidly around the base to find Lennox.

"Lennox! I need a tablet, or a laptop, something with internet and is portable!" I tell him. I couldn't remember what technology was used in 2007.

He looks at me with a sigh, handing over a bulky laptop that was probably his.

"Don't break it," he says. I grin and make no promises other than to wave and disappear. I hold up the laptop triumphantly to Luke, who glares at me. "Was I right?" I ask.

"Yes. I need you to look up a reference picture for me," he told me. Michael finally appears back, panting.

"What's up?" I ask, looking up what Luke had just told me to look up.

"Man, Ironhide's taken to tracking us down," he complains. Right on cue, a knock on the door, which we had closed just for these purposes, came.

I got it," I tell him. I appear right outside the door, stopping Ironhide from knocking again.

"Yes?" I ask.

What are you doing?" he demanded. I grin and grab the holo's arm, teleporting us to the Hanger.

"None of your business," I tell him. "For now," I add ominously. Then I disappear to stand next to Lennox, grinning as Ironhide's holo appears right after me.

"Lennox, do me a favor and keep him busy," I say, disappearing back into the Bunker. Yes, it is now officially, for now, known as the Bunker in my mind.

"We got about fifteen undisturbed minutes while Lennox and Ironhide try to guess what we are doing, probably getting it wrong, and then another ten minutes of them getting over here," I inform them.

"So, we have twenty five minutes until someone needs to stall again?" Kain asks.

"Basically," I say.

"Then why didn't you just say that?" Michael asks.

"It's more fun to speak more," I say. They roll their eyes, getting back to work. I look over it, checking to make sure Michael wasn't screwing up the angles, or worse, losing the pencils, he was very good at that. And breaking them.

"Caity," Luke calls.

"Yeah?" I ask.

"I need…. I don't know, bowls or plates? Oh, and we need paintbrushes, of all different sizes," he tells me.

I face-palm. I knew we had been forgetting something. "Where the heck am I supposed to get that? Let's see, Lennox is with Ironhide, so I'll try Epps instead," I say.

I appear outside the Bunker, looking around carefully for Ironhide and Lennox. I spot them after moving through different sections of the collapsed tunnels. It's basically multiple closed off rooms, little pockets of space that we could store stuff, AND THEY WERE RUINING THEM!

"HEY! NO, YOU CAN NOT BLOW UP THE WALLS!" I tell Ironhide, who had a hand held missile launcher and was blowing up the walls so Lennox could get through. "NO! YOU ARE RUINING IT!" I tell him, grabbing the missile launcher and teleporting it into our bunker.

"Should I even ask?" Luke said, eyeing it.

"No, but don't let Michael touch it," I tell him.

I teleport back to where Ironhide and Lennox are still standing, shocked. "NO DESTROYING OUR DEFENCE SYSTEM" I tell them. Of course, luckily, I've grown more used to the loudness of the world, I was speaking more normally, so now I was actually shouting.

"Hey, sorry, why do you guys need a defence system? Can't they get to it, anyways?" Lennox asked.

"No humans allowed unless invited. No holoforms allowed unless invited. Basically, no going into here without permission from us," I tell him.

"Oh, wait, they can't actually get IN the bunker?" Lennox asked.

"No, they can't. The walls are too thick," I say. Ironhide grumbles but doesn't deny this statement. "And you can get you gun back later," I inform him.

"Wait, you kept it?" he demanded.

"Duh," I say, grabbing both of them and taking them with me to the other side of the base. I left them there, going off again to search for Epps.

"EPPS!" I call, grabbing him and teleporting him into one of the rooms that wasn't destroyed, the bad lighting in the room making it eerie.

"Whoa, don't do that without telling me," he tells me.

"Do you know where I can find bowls, or plates, and lots of different kinds of paintbrushes?" I ask, my eyes pleading.

"Uh, yeah, at the base recreational room. Normally only the kids use them when they come visit their parents on base," he told me nervously.

"Great, take me to the rec room," I tell him. I grab his arm and hesitate. "I'm going to teleport us back to where you were," I tell him. He nods, closing his eyes. We appear in the room he had been in, attracting stares from the soldiers who had just watched him disappear. "Hey, mind your own business, I snap, glaring at them, ruffling my wings up, making myself look indignant. Really, I was kind of indifferent to them.

"We're here," Epps said, gesturing around the room.

"Great, then get me the stuff," I say, crossing my arms and tapping my foot. He got me the items I had requested, and I grin happily at him. "Thanks Epps. Don't snitch on me, or you may find yourself taking a tour of one of the closed off rooms for a while," I threaten cheerfully. I disappear back to the bunker, appearing just outside of it, where there is quite an audience gathered. Apparently they went through the hole in the base that Megatron had made when he took the bunker out of the ground. I narrow my eyes and teleport inside, depositing my items and silently taking the heavy duty headphones that Luke passed me.

"Optimus is outside," he mouthed to me. I don't know, he might have said it, but I couldn't hear a thing. These things were good!

"Should I go say hi?" I ask. He reads my lips and nods, getting to work with organizing the supplies I had just gathered.

I appear in front of the door, glaring at them. Optimus stares at the headphones in shock. He must have been wondering why no one was opening the door when we were clearly inside.

"Go away," I tell them. I teleport away as Ironhide makes a grab for me, appearing back inside the Bunker. I look calmly over Luke's work so far. It was great. But he had started without me telling him where to put the colors on the lettering.

"No no no, this has to be red, this has to be blue, and you have to outline it in silver," I manage to get across to him after much repeating myself and gesturing. He nods, recoloring it correctly. "Yeah, that's it. Now, all you have to do is copy that with the paints," I say.

He nods, beginning to mix paints and to paint the design on the sheet of metal, putting all of our combined efforts to a close. Kain and Michael stopped whatever they were doing to just come and watch Luke paint, making it better than I had first planned. He finished, showing it to us. I grin, grabbing one of the thin brushes, dipping it in black paint, and handing it to Luke.

"You've gotta sign it," I say. He does, then gesturing to everyone, pointing to his signature, and then handing the paintbrush to Michael.

"You guys helped, you sign too," he said. Michael shrugged and signed his name, and so did Kain, all right next to Luke's name, while I took it and writing it on the other side. The guys took up the other edge.

"I'll be right back," I say. I appear in the Autobot Hanger, right on Jazz's shoulder. I take off my headphones for a moment.

"What do ya need this time?" he asks, though it's eager, like he can't wait to find out what we're doing.

"Sealant. So the paint doesn't wear off," I say, putting the headphones back on. Jazz hands over the sealant and I grin at him before appearing back in the Bunker and handing Luke the sealant. He nods and applies it, signifying that we were officially finished.

I read the words of our sign, smiling. Anges de Satan. Luke had looked up how to say Angels of Satan in French. Cool. I knew what language it was, because I had looked it up. That's what he needed the laptop for. It was written in curved letters, almost cursive, but not quite, and Anges was blue and silver, angelic, while Satan was red and silver, you know, satanic and all, and de was gold and silver. It was on a backdrop of wings that looked like our metal ones, though one was darker than the other. The background was brown, a gradient on it so it became darker as it went out. On the edge were our names, black but noticeable. Complete.

We returned the leftover supplies to their original places, and we all grabbed Jazz, ordering him to send out his holoform so he could sign it, too.

He was impressed with our work, seeing the scatters of paper with varieties of different calculations made in messy scrawls. The sheer amount of scribbles we had transferred onto the wall so it would be easier to see was kind of funny, actually. We didn't want them to see this, so I grabbed the cleaning solution and Jazz handed me a rag, and I set to work taking it down while Luke explained how Jazz needed to sign it, too, not only as a dig at the other Autobots, but because we never would have been able to make it if he hadn't supplied the paint and not snitch on us.

When he signed his name, it was with a lazer, next to mine, and it looked, well, jazzy, the way he wrote it. It was certainly better than our own messy handwriting. Then I got an idea.

"Hey, Jazz, instead of having Ratchet come in and weld it to the wall, could you do it? That way it would keep the surprise and…" I trail off, looking at him pleadingly. He looks at all of us for a moment before sighing and nodding.

"If I'm gonna be gettin' in trouble, then I migh' as well go the full mile," he said. We had taken our headphones off for just a moment, listening to see if they were still outside. They were and we hurriedly put them back on.

"Who has Optimus? I mouth. They glare at me pointedly. "ME? WHY DO I HAVE TO?" I say out loud indignantly. Another round of pointed glares. I huff, stomp my foot, and disappear, appearing in one of the rooms right outside the Bunker.

I grab Optimus' arm, much to his surprise, teleport him back to his office and teleport back to outside the Bunker, pointing back at the far wall to Ratchet and Ironhide, who looked at each other worriedly. I look around for Optimus and then cautiously remove my headphones. "Get out of here. For about an hour. Please?" I ask. "I will teleport you guys away if you keep showing up," I tell them, putting the headphones back on. They blink out of existence, and I sigh in relief.

"JAZZ, it's safe to go," I call. The Bunker door opens and Jazz quickly welds the sign seamlessly to the door. "Thanks!" I say, grinning and taking off the headphones. Jazz held out his hand for it and I saw that he had the others as well, so I hand it over.

Like it had been planned, all the holoforms are back, Optimus glaring at me.

"Hey, headphones weren't my idea!" I protest, backing up.

"Really?" he asked, surprised. I wasn't even offended.

"Really. Luke handed them over to me after I brought in the paintbrushes and some bowls to mix the paints in. I don't know where he got them, or even if it was his idea," I inform him.

I pointedly do not look at Jazz, who quickly hid the headphones quickly behind his back, disappearing for a moment then reappearing right where he had been. I don't think that anyone else saw this but me and the guys, but if they did, they didn't comment on it.

"Even so, tell us what you have been doing all day," Optimus said, though this time it was much friendlier. Apparently he only goes into grump mode when he thinks you did something wrong. And if you hadn't noticed, I'm kind of a trouble maker. Just a tad bit.

I grin and gestured to the door. The bots were dumbfounded, except for Jazz, who had mysteriously disappeared.

"You… you four had us worried that you were planning on bombing the base, and you were making a sign?" Ironhide asked incredulously.

"What made you think that we were goi- MICHAEL!" I say, turning on him. He grins at me sheepishly.

I turn back, pinching the bridge of my nose in annoyance at the same time as I sigh. "We don't plan on blowing up the base," I tell him. He begins to speak, but I cut him off, holding up my hand, "I don't want to know how he made you believe that. I don't care. We aren't planning on doing ANY harm to the base. We've spent all day making the sign," I tell them all.

Optimus raises an eyebrow, well, he makes his holoform raise an eyebrow, about the name, which I am all too happy to explain. "Oh, it's a joke about Luke. He's always saying how he's going to Hell, for a number of reasons I'm not going to list, and he's a ginger, and there's a myth that people with ginger hair don't have souls, but they can take them. So, since he's going to hell, he steals souls, and because it was funny, we nicknamed him Satan. So, since Luke is boss, and we've been, or at least, I have been, compared to angels, I put Angels of Satan, and Luke wrote it in French, because that sounds cooler. So yeah, Anges de Satan," I say.

"That is… an odd transpiring of events," he said. "You said he steals souls?"

"I'm pretty sure that we had this same conversation with Ratchet... " I murmur.

After a moment, Optimus nods. Apparently Ratchet shared our discussion. Kain made a comment about orange juice, and Luke hit him in the side. He examines the sign again, eyes zeroing in on Jazz's name signed next to mine.

"I see we found who helped you with the sign. Anything else that he helped with," Optimus asked, obviously knowing that we would know what he was talking about. I stare right between his eyes. I could never actually look at his eyes and lie to him, but I could make it look as if I were looking him in the eyes.

I school my features carefully before I speak, a slight smirk on my face, eyebrows cocked and knowing, my head tilted ever so slightly to the side. "We have no idea what you are talking about. He just got us the paint and welded it down. What else COULD he help us with?"

The guys were gaping at me when they appeared with me inside of the bunker. I put my finger to my lips and press my ear against the door.

"Did… did she just lie to your face, Optimus?" Ironhide asked in disbelief.

"I believe she did," he said hesitantly.

"She knows that we would know that she was lying, correct?" Ratchet asked.

"I believe she did," Optimus said, still just as hesitant. I didn't realize that my lying would be so astounding on them.

"So why would she lie so… deliberately?" Ratchet asked.

"Because without her admitting that Jazz helped them by giving them those headphones, the only way we can know for sure is if he actually has the headphones in his possession," Optimus said.

I clench my eyes shut, inwardly cursing myself for not thinking of grabbing them…. Maybe I could, though?

I turn to the guys. "We need to get Jazz in one of the closed off rooms," I tell them with barely a wisp of noise. I didn't dare do more than that.

"I'll scout one out," Kain said quietly.

"I'll distract them," Michael said just as quietly.

"We'll go get Jazz," Luke said, almost silently.

I spared a moment to wonder how we went from chatting about school work and people that annoyed us to planning heists to get allies out of trouble. Or, you know, having allies and enemies.

We nod to each other, and we disappear. Luke and I should have collaborated where we were going to land, because we nearly hit each other and we DO crash noisily to the ground. Luckily, we teleport back to the Bunker before anyone could have looked towards the noise.

We decide to grab arms and let Luke teleport us to Jazz. When we get into the Hanger, I feel like it's something right outside of impossible. There is no way we are succeeding in this. Optimus just called Jazz up to speak with him.

I cast Luke a hopeless look, but he just grins, appearing RIGHT BEHIND JAZZ. I gape at him, sure that he's gone crazy. There is no way-.

I don't even get to finish my thought before I'm right next to Luke behind Jazz, his hand gripping my arm. I pray to whatever god is in charge of this universe that this works.

Outside. I mouth to Luke, and he nods. Cliff. I mouth after, and he nods again in understanding. I just hope that we end up in the same place. Luke and I grab onto some of the plating on Jazz's back and teleport the surprised mech outside. When we land on the ground in a big heap, I look up, realizing that we were not at the right cliff.

"Did we go to the cliff you were thinking of? Because I don't think that this is the same cliff," Luke asked me.

I stare at it in disbelief. "I didn't want to go here," I say. "I wanted to go to the cliff where Megatron got me."

"That's what I was picturing," he said. I blink.

"We saw the cliff from different points of view. It would have messed up our destination, I bet," I say, looking up at the cliff, then down at the other cliff off the to side of us.

"Well, now how are Michael and Kain going to find us?" Luke asked.

I blink at him, before looking down once more. "Well, at least it buys us some time. Jazz, we need those headphones, so you don't get in trouble," I say to the stunned mech.

"Wait, what? Ya teleported me all the way out here, so I wouldn't get in trouble? Well, that's really kind of ya. Besides for gettin' us lost, of course," he says, handing over the head phones.

I take them and store them in the Bunker, teleporting back and wavering on my feet.

"You okay?" Luke asks.

"Not gonna be able to keep up this pace," I admit. "I was stretching it with going from Jupiter to Earth, then around Earth, but today, I've been doing so many short bursts, and carrying things… I'm going to have to actually sleep at a reasonable time tonight."

"Okay, let's try the cliff again, but at the bottom of the cliff," he tells me.

We land at the top of the cliff, missing the edge by mere inches. Confused, we look up at grinning Kain and Michael, who were holding onto us and Jazz. We appear in one of the closed off caverns, big enough that even Optimus could have stood in it and still have had room. "Nice," I comment. "Okay, Jazz, deny ever having the headphones. I already said that we had no idea what Optimus was talking about when he asked if you helped us with anything other the sign, and I really don't like lying, plus, they know that I was lying, but they can't punish you if they have no proof," I tell him seriously.

"They could just look through my recorded data. We have to turn in any interactions we have with the four of you to Prime," Jazz said.

"You could… lose it. Delete it. They can't do anything if they have no proof of it," I say slyly.

He stares at us incredulously. "I can't do that… it's again-"

Luke cuts him off, taking the lead, and I step back, letting him speak. "Then delete your memories of ever having the interaction. That way, you really won't have any idea what's going on, you won't feel guilty about it, and you would have no knowledge of breaking protocol. No one gets hurt," Luke says easily.

Jazz looks conflicted. "Yeah but, I would have memory of being in here, and I would have ta-" he tried to protest again.

"Go into recharge, that's the right word, right, Caity?" Luke asks, turning to me.

"Yeah. Go into recharge, erase those memories, and you'll wake up back in the Hanger, a little confused, but not able to tell the Bots anything, therefore, not getting into trouble, and not feeling guilty about breaking protocol," I say.

"Besides, does it actually SAY that you can't delete your memories?" Kain asks.

"Well, no-" Jazz says hesitantly.

"Then why are you hesitating?" Michael asks.

"Prowl can't even yell at you for breaking the rules because you won't have broken any rules," I say, stepping forward once more to stand right next to Luke.

"You know, you guys all say Luke is your leader, but I'm pretty sure you follow her," he says. We look at him expectantly. "Fine," he says.

We give a little cheer as the spy powers down, his optics dimming slightly and the whirring of machinery decreasing as he went into recharge. We wait about five minutes before we take him back to the Autobot Hanger, where we leave him on one of the berths.

"Sorry, we had to borrow him for a moment," Luke says cheerfully. He's the one with the most energy out of us.

"Well, see ya tomorrow, we're going to bed," Kain says, yawning. I teleport, only managing to get about fifteen feet away.

"Whoa. Way too much teleporting today," I say, shaking my head to try to get rid of the sudden dizziness that occupied it. I feel a steadying hand on my arm, and I force my eyes to open, seeing Luke there, looking at me worriedly. "Bunker?" I ask. He nods silently, and suddenly we're there, and I'm being sat down on one of the bunks that folded down from the walls. I see one above me, being pulled down, and teleport up there, barely, before Kain can claim it. I pull the blankets up to my shoulders, falling asleep almost instantly.


	14. Memory Loss and Sharks Don't Mix

_**Okay, I got two reviews in a matter of hours, and that is really good for me. I don't know about other writers, but for me, that's **__**phenomenal**__**. So, here you go. Basically, Caity is an idiot. You'll understand why I say this after reading the chapter.**_

When I wake up, I have a pounding headache, and judging from the groans coming from around the room, I'm not the only one. It must be something from the change, I conclude. There is a pounding on the door, probably what woke me up. I jump to the ground, stumbling and cautiously unlocking the door. Lennox is staring there, looking worried.

"You pounded?" I say, rubbing my temples in hope to get the pulsing pain to recede.

"You alright kids?" he asks.

"No. I feel like someone is pounding a metal stake through my skull, or multiple, all over my head," I say.

"Go lie back down. I was just checking up on you kids. I'm getting Ratchet to check you all over," he tells me. I can only nod dully and return to the bunk I had slept in last night, curling up into a tight ball.

I barely protest as someone moves me, simply clenching my eyes shut against the pain and leaning against whoever was carrying me. I just want the pounding to stop, though, the beeping that soon reaches my ears would be nice to stop as well.

I open my eyes as someone shakes my shoulder. They are saying something, and I shake my head slightly, listening to their words and on who they are. It's Ratchet.

"I'm sorry, what? I wasn't paying attention," I say, squinting up at him.

Ratchet makes a noise of relief. He sends down his holoform and gently moves my head around, deciding something, murmuring softly to me, but again, the world seems to have dulled back to the pounding in my head and the beeping noise.

"Caity," Ratchet says, snapping me back to reality. "We need to do the mind wipe. You are going to be confused for a little bit as the protocols set in, but it won't be permanent. It should only be a day or two before your return memories to you," he says, shaking me on the shoulder when the pounding begins to increase.

I try to think of what he had said. Mind wipe. For some reason I felt like I should be protesting this, but the pounding was back, and so was that insistent beeping. The pounding would occasionally spike, and when it did, the beeping mimicked it. If I listened closely, I could hear three other sets of beeping. It worried me, but my pain addled brain decided that it was less important than the beeping that mimicked the pounding.

After an eternity, I feel something sharp on my arm, enough to get my attention, but not get me back to reality. Then, even the small hold I had on reality slipped away as the pounding and beeping disappeared, and I felt… safe…. I don't often feel safe. It's an odd, nice feeling.

I open my eyes and see brown, soft light. It's warm here, as well. Cozy and safe. But I don't see anyone else, and that automatically puts me on guard. I look around, spinning. I realize that I look like my old self. No metal. No dirt. I'm wearing my clothes that I came here in, and there aren't any holes, no blood, no dirt caking it. I don't feel tired anymore, either.

I shouldn't be anxious. This place seems safe. But in my experience, nothing is safe, even if it feels that way. In my experience, those so called safe places are the most dangerous, because it made you put down your guard.

I feel something brush against my head, and I flinch away, spinning and crouching defensively. It's a halve of the All Spark.

~Subject 4: Memory Wipe in progress. Downloading protocols. Hold still. Movement will disrupt memory wipe. Do not panic. Panicking will disrupt protocol download. Panicking will disrupt memory wipe.~

I stare at it in shock. I blink. It repeats itself. I blink again. It continues to repeat the same monotonous message. After a while, I notice numbers racing down the…. well, walls of light. They race around me, and across my vision. The halve keeps repeating the same message. I see the numbers in my head, but they are starting to make some sort of sense. The protocols… That's what they are.

Glyphs come after the numbers, and I can read most of them. It makes some sense, I mean, they are basic rules, like no unnecessary killing, no disobeying the Prime or the Lord High Protector, Megatron I guess, help, not harm, if it is an option, basic principles like loyalty to my brothers, or the "other subjects" as it put it in the glyphs, and stuff like that. I am confused with some of the other ones, like if one of the "other subjects" were to die, bring them back to life after eliminating the threat. I didn't realize we could do that. In the event of my own death, there is something called the ghost protocol, where I will literally be a ghost until I'm brought back to life. Weird, but kind of cool.

There are other protocols, like how I interact with the guys. Apparently, the All Spark believes me to be on the bottom of our little hierarchy, because it tells me to listen to my superiors, the "other subjects". That's when I find out that I can change the glyphs, and I put down that I have to listen to Subject 1, and take the other's thoughts into consideration. Much easier to understand.

I balk silently at the protocol forbidding my defiance. It gets deleted. It appears a couple more times, but I delete it each time. I'm not getting rid of my most prominent part of my personality. I glare as it appears once more, and I delete it, daring it to return silently. I stay silent as the coding slowly disappears to brown light once more. The feeling of safety is almost oppressive and not comforting at all. Then I feel a tugging in my head, and a scene from my past plays in front of my mind, then it's gone, forgotten. It goes on like this. I don't fight it. Ratchet told me that I would get it all back. Besides, there was muscle memory, and instinct. I'm pretty sure I would still know how to do things, even if I didn't remember it. I don't panic.

I watch as my last memory, my memory of watching my memory, slips away, I close my eyes. I don't remember what has happened, or even who I am, but I don't panic still. I feel safe, but that feeling of safety is slowly slipping away into an annoying beeping. The air chills and bright light is in front of my eyes, and there is whirring. I hear talking, and I don't know what they were saying. I'm literally as confused as I could probably ever be.

I prove myself wrong as I open my eyes. There is a metal being peering over me. I blink, shake my head, but the sight doesn't change. It just seems…. wrong. The being says something to me, but I again can't understand it, and I stare at him blankly. He must realize that I don't know what he's saying, because he makes a noise and reaches out slowly. I follow his servo with my eyes, not moving until he tries to grab my arm, which is connected to some sort of machine. My arm looks wrong somehow…. It's made of metal. I look at my other arm, and it's made of metal, too.

I shift my head to look at it, twisting it around in amazement. There were words on my arms, meaning a lot of different things, and I was amazed, because I COULD READ IT! It basically said that I held a part of the All Spark, whatever that was, and that I was not to be harmed or face eternal damnation. Interesting. I wonder what eternal damnation is?

The metal being gently took my arm and removed whatever it was connecting it to the machine. The beeping stops, but I can still hear whirring noises. I deduce that it's coming from the metal being. I turn my head to peer at the other occupants of the room. They are beings that look like me, only partly metal.

They are all looking at me with just as much curiosity. They seem familiar to me, but I can't quite place them…

The big metal being is joined by another, bigger one. He looks down at us and says something to the first one, who shakes his helm and says something, gesturing to all of us on the beds. The second one nods to him and says something else. I'm getting frustrated that I can't understand what is being said, because they are obviously talking about us.

In my frustration, I hit my arm on one of the bedrails, and dull pain spikes up my arm. I yelp, hugging it close to my body, glaring at the sharp edge the had stabbed into my arm. I had bent the metal to a sharp point, I guess. I gently run my other hand along the where it hurts the worst, and it comes away blue. I'm astonished.

"SLAGGIT!" the first one says. Only, I understand it. I stare at him in astonishment. The other bedridden beings do as well. There is a moment where we all just stare at the first being in astonishment, before the second one buries his face in one of his servos, making a noise that could be described as disbelief.

The second one said something to the first one, and he nodded and gently took my arm, drawing out a strange device and something blue and flickering. I reach out to touch it, but a gentle hold keeps me from doing it. My injured arm is rotated so the part of it that is leaking the blue liquid is exposed. The strange device is brought up to my arm, and I yelp as the blue flickering part is brought to my arm and the pain flares. I try to yank my arm away, but it is kept in a very firm hold, until he finally pulls the device away, and the pain fades away, and my arm is released.

I scramble off the bed, and I dash away from the first being, glaring at him distrustfully. Then I spot my wings. I spin, trying to catch it, and missing. I do realize that it's connected to my back, though. I move it hesitantly into my hand, running my fingers over the intricate patterns of the feathers.

There is a noise coming from the second metal being, but it sounds… amused? It came in short busts, and was very confusing. I draw my wings around me like a blanket, sitting down as close as I can to the wall and hiding behind my wings. The second one comes over slowly bending down and gently lifting me into his servo. I don't like being picked up and flail, trying to get put down.

"Calm down, little one," he says. I freeze, staring at him in astonishment. I had understood what he said. I nod, sitting quietly in his servo.

"Cybertronian? They don't know English, but they know Cybertronian?" the first one grumbles, apparently in Cybertronian.

The second one says something to him, in what I assume is English, and the first one replies in kind. I want to say something, but I don't actually know how… That is, until glyphs flash across my eyes, and I suddenly just KNOW how to speak.

"HEY!" I shout, clapping my hands twice to get their attention. They look down at me in shock. I point down at the others, who are all staring at us in shock still.

"You wish to join your brothers?" the second one asks.

I look at them. Were they my brothers? I guess they must have been. I nod, being gently set down on the ground next to them. The guys are fast to get up and surround me, confused. Do I look different than them.

The one with the blond hair, how I knew it was blond, I didn't know, grabbed the base of my wing, and I spun, grabbing his arm and twisting it behind his back. The action brought him to his knees and he made a noise of protest.

The one with the ginger hair gently grabbed my hand and forced it to release the other being.

"Be nice," he ordered.

"But-" I protest.

"Be nice," he said again, shaking his head at me.

"Fine," I grumble, crossing my arms.

"Jerk," the blond said, but he was grinning all the same. I don't think that he meant it. So I don't twist his arm again.

"What are our names?" the ginger asks.

"You are Luke. The girl is Caity, the one that Caity subdued is Kain, and the last boy is Michael. You had your memories wiped, but should have them back in a day or so," the first one says.

"Who are you?" Luke asks.

"I am Ratchet, a medic," he says, glaring at me, "And the mech next to me is Optimus Prime," he adds.

I zero in on the mech, glyphs racing across my vision, getting information about them both. They were deemed as Allies, especially Prime.

I look at Luke, trying to see how he wanted to proceed with this. He gazed at them calculatingly, then nods, looking at all of us.

"Allies," he says, so quietly that my audio receptors were straining to hear.

We had come to the same conclusion. We could trust them. I still didn't trust the medic.

"Why did we have our memories wiped?" Luke asks.

"Because if you hadn't, you would be dead," Ratchet growled.

Again, we wait to see if Luke accept this answer. He does with a nod.

I look from Luke to Ratchet to Prime, looking for anything that could show they weren't trustworthy. They showed nothing.

"So… now what?" Michael asks.

"If you would all hold still, I could examine you to see how far the change has progressed," Ratchet suggested.

"No," I say, stepping back. "I don't trust you," I say, backing up.

"I don't care," Ratchet growled. "We need to see how much damage was done during the memory wipe, and to do that, I have to examine you," he adds.

"You can do that when I get my memory back," I reply.

"Or I can do it now," he growled.

"No, I don't trust you," I say again.

"I still don't care," Ratchet said. He steps forward , which means that he is now towering over us. I glare up at him and take a step back so I don't have to crane my neck so much.

"You can do the others. But not me," I say.

"I'm thinking about doing you first, just because you're being stubborn," Ratchet growled.

"Or you can not," I growl right back, narrowing my eyes. I may not remember anything, but I know that I don't like doctors.

"Caity, what's he gonna do? We're all right here, and he's an ally. The chances of him hurting you are very slim," Luke reasons.

I look at him. No, I glare at him, really, but I do not deny what he says.

"If you truly believe that, then you go first," I finally challenge.

"Because, if I'm wrong, and he kills me, then what would you guys be left to do?" he asks.

"Bring you back to life after eliminating the threat," I say automatically.

"And we would do the same for you. So what do you have to be afraid of?" Kain said behind on.

"I don't remember… but I feel like I don't like doctors… Or something that has to do with doctors…" I say, confusion clear in my voice.

"I'm going to pick you up now," Ratchet said, clearly annoyed. I grumble but step onto the offered servo, glaring at the mech while he just held me. The whirring noise increased, so I guess he was doing something, but I had suddenly gotten the chills or something, because I kept shivering. I have no idea that I knew what chills was, but I didn't plan to think too much about it.

"If this pace of change continues, it will have changed your entire structure completely in three days. You should have your memory back by then and will have an actual reason to be annoying," he finally said. I roll my eyes.

"Can we fly?" I ask. I don't even know what flying is until I read the glyph.

Ratchet's protest was really funny. "Primus forbid you ever figure out how to. Though, you could fly if you knew how to," he admitted.

"Can we spend the rest of the day figuring it out?" I ask, looking at Luke for permission more so than Ratchet.

"As long as you do not cause trouble," Optimus finally says when no one answers me.

Great!" Michael says as I am set on the ground. Of course, we have to wait for Ratchet to finish examining all of them, and basically saying the exact same thing he had said about me.

When we could finally leave, we raced out of the room, exploring and avoiding people. I found humans fascinating, but Luke wouldn't let me go near one. Shame.

We figure it out slowly, how to fly, and Kain is the first one to actually do it successfully. I was the last, and I still have trouble with the landing, preferring to just roll as I hit the ground instead of just landing on my feet. Luke said that that was going to become a problem later on. I told him I would work on it.

"So, who wants to see who can fly the highest?" Luke asks. Michael grins.

"I'm gonna beat all of ya'll!" he challenges.

We take off, spiralling into the sky. It quickly goes from a race into a game of tag, which Michael was it, being slower than us. We are forced to stop when something races by us, nearly sending us out of the sky.

"What was that?" I demanded, regaining the height that we had had, and clustering as close as I dared to my brothers.

We are scattered again as whatever had raced by us the first time raced by us again. Loud blaring began coming from the building we had come from, and we had enough sense to get back inside. Only, we were blocked before we could.

I was getting a headache from the glyphs racing across my vision, warning me of the danger I obviously knew about already.

"Uh, we're in trouble," Michael summed up. We were being herded in the air by someone who was zipping around before we could catch sight of them.

"I wish we could remember things!" Kain complained, nearly knocking me out of the sky as his wing knocked into mine.

"Don't knock me out of the sky!" I snap, searching the sky. There is an object in the distance, flying back towards us fast.

"You guys see that, too?" Luke asks.

"Scatter?" I ask.

"Scatter," Luke confirms. We scatter in opposite directions, making it so when the jet, as the glyphs helpfully tell us it is, passes by, we aren't there. We can see it turn around angrily, and it is joined by another jet. This one is much bigger, much scarier, and much much more dangerous. According to the glyphs.

"We're in trouble," Michael helpfully sums up again.

"Yup," three answering voices reply.

"Guys.. we might have a little bit bigger problem than that. Where did the base go?" Kain asks, looking around and down. All that there is as far as we can see is water. Deep water, at that.

"Up or down?" I ask.

"Up," Luke replies. I don't get a chance to do so, because again, we are being herded further away from the base and over the open water.

"Hey, watch it! There is plenty of sky, you don't have to go right where I'm making a sad attempt to fly!" Kain snaps as he is nearly knocked out of the sky. Then Michael IS knocked out of the air. Only to disappear as the scary one zips past.

"We're done," Luke says flapping to regain the height he had had. He had been pushed down to almost touching the water. I decide to stay near the water, eyeing the now pretty slow moving jets as they circled around us.

"We're giving up?" I ask.

"They have Michael," Luke reasons.

"That they do," I sigh, pinching the bridge of my mostly metal nose in frustration. ", hey!" I say, falling into the water as the first jet passes right over my head. I sink for a bit before I kick out, breaking the surface and fighting to keep myself above it. Metal doesn't float very well. "Ugh, now I'm all wet!" I complain. I look around and see Luke and Kain have been taken as well. I decide to use the swear word Ratchet had used when I first woke up. "Slaggit."

I dive back under the surface of the water, sinking easily and using my wings to keep me from going completely to the bottom. I must have been a pretty okay swimmer if it was enough to be muscle memory.

A flash of a memory of learning to swim crossed my vision, and that of a human female floundering next to me.

"Caity, wait up, I can't swim as well as you!" the female protested.

"Not my fault, Shelby!" I remember saying.

The memory fades, and I find that I've sunken to about a foot away from the bottom. I look up. I can see watery shapes flashing above the surface. I glare at it calculatingly, ignoring the warnings of increasing pressure that flashes across my vision.

I'm starting to remember things. That can be good or bad, depending on the situation. At the moment, knowing how to swim is a good thing. A sense of loss came from the disappearance of the memory, but I push it away, trying to figure out how I am going to get out of this situation. I see a flash just under the surface of the water, but nothing going deeper than that.

I dart away, ignoring the sea life that I passed, though there was one annoying fish with mean eyes and sharp teeth that kept following me. The glyphs said that it was a great white shark. It was annoying. I didn't realize that I should have paid more attention to it until strong jaws clamped around my arm and blue dyed the formerly clear water around me.

I cry out in pain, yanking my arm harshly out of the jaws, quite a few teeth remaining in my arm. Reddish brown now joined the blue in coloring the water, coming from the shark. I sink to the bottom of the ocean, holding my severely injured arm close to me. Now I was really wishing Ratchet were here, even if the device he had used to stop the bleeding hurt worse than getting the actual wound.

The shark circled around, blood coming from its mouth. It charged me angrily, getting my arm again. The blue color deepened, and now I had warnings of low energon levels, as well as danger of detection blaring across my vision. It was distracting me, and the shark was coming at me again.

"Would you stop?" I snarl as my arm was caught in the jaws once more. I shove my elbow of my other arm into the creature's gills, sending it reeling away, floundering in pain as it struggled to breathe… or whatever it is that fish do to get air. My vision was now filled with warnings of detection and energon levels being dangerously low. The shark began to float towards the surface, dead. I had just killed a shark, and sadly, I was probably going to die myself because of having almost no energon left.

Only, I wasn't going to die in the ocean, because just like the warnings flashing across my vision told me, I had been detected. That wasn't good. I glared defiantly at the blood red optics that glared down at me, even though I was barely conscious.

I lost consciousness before he even reaches down to grab me, and as I sleep, more memories return. Most of them, actually. Including English. Wow. I never realized how much I used it! I prefered it to Cybertronian, but I could still speak the alien language.

I definitely remember enough to remember how we got here, and my time in space. So, basically, I'm missing nothing. Other than the actual mind wipe.

I open my eyes in the Decepticon base, in Megatron's office. There is a new addition to the office, though. A thin chain runs from the metal desk and is attached to a cuff of sorts, which is clasped around my ankle. It doesn't appear to have a seam, so I have no idea how it actually got on. Another thing is that my arm is in some sort of metal cast, again with no seam. How did they manage that?

I teleport experimentally, trying to get back to Earth. I find myself at the edge of the chain, almost falling to the ground, but flying at the last possible moment. I could just attempt to teleport the desk, but I'm pretty sure it's pretty well attached to the floor, and the strain would probably knock me out, plus I would still be connected to the damn thing. I realize that I'm alone in here. Megatron must be somewhere else on the ship.

"Gods damn it, stupid fucking shark, got me fucking caught," I growl, tugging futilely at the chain. I was almost tempted to say some more choice words, but I heard noise coming from outside the office, and I clumsily landed, defensively standing at the very edge of the chain, as far away from the door as I could. Which, saying as the chain connected at the very farthest edge from the door, was pretty far.

I glare at Megatron as he storms in, and he glares right back at me, though it's somewhat smug. If he starts gloating about capturing not only me but my brothers as well, I'm going to find a way to do what Sam could not do and kill him.

"You should not have escaped, Girl," he growls. "You won't do so again," he adds.

"You are a fucking ass," I spit, ignoring his comment.

"I saved your life, Girl. You are the one who was stupid enough to go against a shark," he reminds.

"Not my fault I forgot how dangerous sharks were. I had been having some memory problems. I think that entitles me to some idiocy. You are just an ass for no reason," I snarl. I kick out with my chained foot, the chain rattling. "And by the way, what I did was mostly to save Sam's life because of something that I'm still not sure how it happened," I growl.

"You teleported too close to the glass and cracked it. I had half the mind to lock you in there, but I decided that you would have far less chances of escaping if you were where I can have my optics on you at all times," Megatron sneered.

"Not to mention, you wanted to be an ass and gloat that you not only caught me once, but twice, as well as getting my brothers," I growl.

"I do not gloat," Megatron growled.

"Uh huh, and I'm not from a different dimension," I snap, sarcasm dripping like acid from my lips.

"Not anymore you aren't," Megatron was so kind remind me.

"That's like saying if your twin dies, you are no longer a twin," I reply scathingly. "I'm integrated into this dimension, and my dimension is gone. I am still from a different dimension. Nothing is going to change that."

"You should be thankful that you were not erased with the rest of your dimension," Megatron sneers.

"I would rather be dead than be here," I snarl. "Actually, I would rather go through every single last one of my memories AGAIN than be here," I add. "Actually I still have to do that twice more, if I remember the memory wipe, so, I would rather not be here."

"I forgot how annoying it is when you speak," Megatron growled. He went over to sit in the chair that was, I assume, for the desk. I really hadn't paid that much attention last time. I am quick to go as far as I possibly can away from him. Sadly, though I am far from the door, I am not far from Megatron now. I go to threaten, but when I open my mouth, nothing comes out. "Don't tell me. You can't speak. Primus would never be so kind," Megatron taunted.

"No, I just found I can't fucking threaten you. Damn these godsdamned protocols," I snarl.

"Amazing. That should cut your chatter down by half," Megatron snapped sarcastically.

"You can go rot in hell, or the pit, where ever it is you guys go when you majorly fuck up other people lives," I growl.

"You can join me there when you die, then, bratling," Megatron growled.

"Nah, I KNOW I'm going to hell. Then I'm probably going to break out and annoy people on Earth. Ghost around, scare some people, drag the guys out of hell. Help Luke take it over. Easy peasy stuff," I quip.

"How do you know that hell and the pit are not the same place?" Megatron challenged.

"Because one is a place where you will be, and the other will be where I am," I reply, just as scathingly.

"If you ever get away from that chain," Megatron said snidely. "Tell me, did you already try teleporting?"

"Why, NO! Why didn't I think of that?" I snarl sarcastically. "Of course, if I get one of the links undone, I'm home free."

"Do you even have a home?" he asks slyly.

"Home is where the heart is. You obviously don't have a home, because you don't have a heart, or even a spark," I hiss.

"I assure you, I have a spark. How do you think that I can command you at will if I do not have a spark?" he asks.

"You are an ass," I answer.

"Then so is my brother," Megatron said. Did he expect me to defend him?

"Yeah, he is. Must run in the family," I growl, surprising him.

"Does being a brat run in yours?" Megatron asked.

"Yeah, actually, it does," I reply. I kick out with my chained foot again, uncomfortable with it.

"Maybe you should try breaking tradition," Megatron suggested meanly.

"Maybe you should try breaking yours," I spit back. I find myself on my stomach as the chain is tugged sharply back towards Megatron. Ass.

"Be careful. It would take a while to fix a broken neck," he threatened. I get back to my feet slowly, eying him warily.

"Yeah. Because that was my fault," I snipe. I fly up before he can knock me down again, though I do get tugged back to the table. I'm surprised when the chain disconnects from the table, now making a clicking noise as it secures itself to Megatron's arm.

I fly so as far as possible away from the mech, my leg feeling like it's going to be ripped off. I'm extremely surprised when the chain begins to retract, pulling me closer to the mech.

"Nope. No, not happening," I growl when the force of my flying actually stops the chain's progression. Until a sickening crack is heard and I crumble, the chain retracting quickly so I land on Megatron's arm. That sums up the total of broken bones I have had in my life to three. All of them have been in this dimension. This place was bad for my bones. Literally. "Damnit!"

"You are an idiot," Megatron growls.

"Rather be an idiot than an ass," I snap.

"I'm not the one that continues to break body parts," he reminds. "Stay still," he adds. I stay still as my leg, the one that hadn't been broken before but is now broken, is set harshly.

I bite my tongue to keep from screaming out, though a muffled sort of yelp gets out as the bone clicks into place then shifts into being not bone. I draw my leg back, checking to make sure that it was straight.

"This place is awful. And you are a bully," I spit, Standing and finding my leash, because, really, that's what it was, really short. I tug on it still, not liking being chained down, not that anyone does. "I am not a damn pet to be kept on a leash."

"No? Then why are you?" he asked, playing dumb.

"One of these days, I'm going to figure out how to kill you," I say. It's not a threat. I am simply stating something that is true. One day, I would figure out how to kill him.

"Ah, but by then, you will have broken, my pet," Megatron purred.

"People have been trying to break me down my entire life. Does it look like I'm anywhere near breaking?" I snap. "And I'm NOT a PET," I add.

He grumbled in amusement, petting my head gently, which I ducked away from, not that I could really do anything about it. "Time breaks down everything," he told me wisely.

"Uh huh. Don't pet me. How about you go crawling back to your master and go looking for an ancient artifact instead," I growl.

"The Fallen is dead. Why do you think it took so long for us to attack the base to retrieve you?" Megatron told me. I face palm. Of course. He just completely deleted any hope of the second movie coming around and fixing this messed up dimension.

"And Luke was getting on ME for messing up the timeline," I grumble, ducking away from him again. "Though, you really can't mess it up any more than it has been. Amazing of how much four people can change the future," I add, mostly to myself.

"What were you planning on doing with your future in your dimension?" Megatron asked, I give him a look.

"Why do you care? It can't happen now, anyways," I say.

"Because it can't happen now is why I am curious. Taking four beings out of a dimension can change it as well," Megatron said, gripping my sides and turning me so I had to face him.

"I wanted to join the army and to be a writer. I planned on going to school for law, becoming a lawyer or a cop. People who help others. Normally," I add.

"A professional liar with a military background. And you call me evil," he says. "Though, you have yet to lie to me. You are actually surprisingly honest," he said.

"Honesty keeps people away. Most people dislike being told the truth," I tell him. "I want to see my brothers," I say. "You don't have them with Dorito, do you?" I ask.

"Yes, Starscream is watching them. They do not have all their memories back. They are being very quiet. You are never quiet, it seems," Megatron rumbles.

"If I go quiet, I'd have to deal with my own thoughts, and since I don't have an outlet, I'd go crazy," I inform him.

"I think I'd prefer you be annoying than glitched," Megatron admitted.

A warning flashed across my vision, warning me of low energon levels. I blink in confusion. It doesn't go away.

"How do you deal with this stuff in your vision?" I snap to myself, forcing myself not to rub at my eyes. That wouldn't end well. It would end with me either going blind or getting optics. I liked neither option. Still, I closed my eyes tightly and bow my head, wishing that the damn thing would just go away.

"I tend to avoid doing anything that would have them clutter my vision," Megatron replied dryly.

"It's your fault anyways," I growl.

"Be silent. Starscream is coming in, and you will NOT respond if he talks to you," he ordered.

I stand up, kicking at the chain angrily. This wasn't going to end well. For anyone. The mech stormed in, looking pissed, and I didn't blame him. He had dents all over his armor, and it looked like they had gone after his remaining optic.

"What happened to you?" Megatron demanded with a long suffering vent.

"They are pit spawned processor glitch bratlings!" Starscream snarled. I have a great come back to that. But I can't say it. So I just smirk. It doesn't help Starscream's mood. "You are still the worst, insect," he sneered.

I just smirk wider, letting him know that his taunts weren't affecting me in the way he had intended. He growled at me, though I only retained my smirk and raise an eyebrow as if to ask him if he was stupid.

"Why are they acting out? Defiance is against their coding," Megatron rumbles. I sheepishly rub the back of my head, chuckling softly.

"What did you do?" Megatron growls.

I shrug, going into outright laughter. I didn't realize that the code would carry out to the guys when I had done it. Oh, this was too good.

"Can she not speak?" Starscream asks, sounding delighted.

"She cannot while you are in the same room. I do not wish for another repeat of you losing your optic," Megatron growled. I feel a sharp tug on the chain, and I glare at the tyrant, my laughing over and done with as I am reminded that I am still imprisoned here.

I kick out against the chain, not that it really did anything. It simply clinked and went silent. I can tell that the metal feathers on my wings were fluffed up in my anger, which honestly was an annoying give away to my anger.

Megaton went on talking to Starscream, almost absentmindedly holding my wings closed when the giant Dorito insulted my dimension. Which was good for the Dorito, because I think I almost broke the chain before I was lifted into the air, no oxygen available, even if I had been able to talk.

I don't really care when people insult me. Yes, I will react to being mocked, but that is just because I have an aggressive personality, and because I enjoy putting people who are being asses down. But no matter who you are, if you insult the few people that I actually care about, or my dimension, I will not hesitate to forgo verbal fighting to down right beat the crap out of someone.

Megatron pointedly ignored me and diverted Starscream's attention away from my reaction, which he had obviously been looking for. Loud crashing noises came from outside the room, and I kicked Megatron as hard as I could when he said some rather unflattering things about the guys.

I was once again chained to the table and left alone in the room. I used this opportunity to call them both every single obscenity I knew, not to mention quite a few childish, made up ones, and ones that I didn't even know I knew. I put quite a few dents in the table from kicking it, stomping on it, and basically doing all I could to break the godsdamned chain that refused to break.


	15. I Ruined Megatron's Desk

_**Sorry for the wait, lovelies. I just came up with an idea. If anyone would like, maybe they could draw what they think Caity, Kain, Luke, and Michael look like, as humans, or as Cybertronians, that would be fantastic. I just want to see how you guys think they look. Anyways, here is chapter 15!**_

By the time Megatron came back, amused and annoyed at the same time by whatever had drawn him out, I had pretty much demolished, dented, and twisted the table where the chain was connected, and the chain looked as though nothing happened. I was sitting, knees drawn to my chest, arms and wings wrapped around them, forehead resting on my arms, and my eyes closed, trying to ignore the annoying warning that I have low energon levels.

"Primus, what did you do?" Megatron asked in surprise. I don't answer him, shrinking more in on myself than before.

I hear the chain move, being brought onto Megatron's arm once more, though I am allowed to stay on the ruined table. "Girl, what did you do?" he demands, the tone leaving no room for argument in answering.

"Tried to break the chain," I say dully. The warning flashes in front of my vision again, leaving me groaning and dipping my head down once more. I had a headache now. I had a headache, I was low on energon, I was away from my brothers, and I was chained up like some kind of dog. Plus, the chain must have been made out of adamantium or vibranium, because that thing wasn't breaking anytime soon.

"I see. That included denting my desk?" Megatron asked.

"Wasn't aiming for the desk. Chain kept moving," I grumble. I keep my wings blocking his view of me. No need for him to see and gloat about the energon leaking from various places, nor the fact that one of my eyes was now an optic. I hadn't been paying attention and had scrubbed at one of my eyes, the right one, in hopes to relieve myself from the ache that was coming over them. Add that to my list of things that have gone wrong for me in this universe, even though I've brought most of it on myself.

"It does that sometimes, especially when you attempt to break it," Megatron growled dryly.

"No? Really?" I snap tiredly. I fold my wings slightly so they block his view even more than before.

"What did you do to yourself while denting my desk?" he growled. I don't answer, just stiffen stubbornly, biting my lip. It was none of his business.

"Girl, how did you injure yourself?" Megatron growled, plucking me off the desk and into his servo, though I stubbornly remained in the same position as before. Megatron roughly pulled my wings back, causing me to yelp with pain. That hurt!

I duck my head down, hiding my face from view, not that it really mattered, because he could see the energon on my jeans, through the cuts in them, and arms, and probably on my shirt and in the cuts on that thing as well. I really shouldn't have thrown that tantrum. Thank you, captain hindsight. Go back to bugging Captainsparklez… I don't even think he was recording at this time, though… maybe that's why it's bugging me….

I jolt myself back to reality, the warning glyph flashing insistently now. I got it. Low energon. Bad for my health. I couldn't exactly do anything about it right now.

"Did this teach you that you will not win against a metal desk?" Megatron growled, jerking my head up and to the side. He sounded smug, the bastard.

"I don't know, I'm pretty sure I won against the desk. It's the leash that beat me," I snap back, attempting to twist my head away. Megatron holds it between two of his fingers tightly, enough to be slightly painful, but not enough to cause any real harm. I swore I heard him say something, but it was gone from my mind in a second.

"You are low on energon again," he growls, finally releasing me.

"I know," I snap, finally yanking my head away from him and taking to the air. Not that I could go far. Damn chain.

"You are going to go into forced recharge again," he warned.

"I KNOW," I snap again. "I can read the godsdamned warning!"

The chain yanked down. How the hell was it doing that? It seemed to have a mind of its own! Or shared a mind with Megatron. Maybe it did, I mean, ho-

I snap myself out of my thoughts, trying to stay focussed on what was going on around me. It was more difficult than you would think. With the warning and my own thoughts to occupy me, I was having trouble sticking to listening to Megatron while he grumbled, casting over areas that had yet to stop dripping the energon.

"Are you even listening?" he finally snapped after saying something that I didn't hear for the third time.

"Uh, no, I-" I break off, shaking my head to stay focussed on the real world. Funny how this was the real world now. If you had told me a month ago that I was going to get stuck in Transformers, I would have written a story about after saying that that was a good idea but would never happen. Of course, now if I could go back in the past, I would have made myself not go. Ever. Annnd I was of task again. Dangit!

"Girl," Megatron snapped.

"Hmm, what?" I ask, looking up at him.

"Are you having trouble staying on task?" he asks, annoyed.

"Little bit," I say, just as annoyed.

"Then you are very low on energon," he growls.

"Again, I-" I trail off again, my mind distracting me once more. It was annoying how it kept doing it, isn't it? I mean, I'm trying, and failing, to have a conversation here! And it happened again. Damn. I think I've blacked out again. No, I must have, because I'm opening my eyes again, and the low energon level warning is gone, and I feel a lot less distracted.

I must have taken out my other eye at some point, because my eyes are no longer eyes, they're optics. Which isn't that bad, actually. I can certainly see better.

I feel the ground that I had been lying on shift. Not ground then. Did I really black out on Megatron's arm? Wow. How much of an idiot can I be? Well, I guess that I couldn't really control where I blacked out. I move my arm to lift myself, only for me to put it back down upon feeling a light weight on it.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" I spit. It took me a moment to realize I had said it in Cybertronain. Huh. Must be a default. I repeat myself in English, sitting up without moving too much. There were now chains on not only both my arms, but on my other ankle as well.

I tug on them angrily, shifting my gaze to the apparently recharging tyrant. I stand and stomp my foot down, crossing my arms angrily and taking to the air so when he jolted, I wasn't affected by it.

"TAKE THEM OFF!" I demand. I am literally shaking, I'm so angry.

I can only hold my arms apart so far before the chain is too taunt to pull anymore. But if I could, instead of having almost handcuffs, I would have put my hands behind my head to calm myself down.

But I couldn't, so I was left with taking shaky, unneeded breaths to control my anger. It wasn't working very well. Megatron glared at me closed his servo around me, trapping my wings uncomfortably around my body.

"No, my pet, they stay on until you have shown you are not going to destroy something," he purred.

"Take. Them. Off," I growl again slowly.

"No," he says cheerfully. The chains retract more. Now they really are handcuffs, and I can't walk anywhere. I am released, not that it makes much of a difference other than I'm not in such an uncomfortable position. Only, now I am back on the heavily dented desk, tethered to it uncomfortably.

"I don't want them on," I growl.

"I believe that that is the point of a punishment," Megatron replied, still cheerful at my misery.

"For ruining your ugly desk?" I growl.

"For nearly giving me a spark attack when you collapsed from having nearly no energon twice in the past orn," Megatron replied. "I dislike my pets being ill. I believe that the humans are the same with their pets," Megatron added.

I don't have an answer to that. I simply click my mouth shut and sit down, sulking. Megatron suddenly shot up, grabbing me and attaching the chain to his shoulder, leaving me to struggle to not fall as he moved.

"What is with you earthlings and destroying things?" he demanded rhetorically.

I'm surprised to find that I know where I am being taken, almost as much as I am surprised at our destination. The tank? Was he keeping the guys in the tank.

Yes, he was. And the tank had a giant crack in it. Next to it was a smaller crack. Luke was next to it, his hand leaking blue energon. My eyes widen. Luke was mad. That was never a good thing. He tended to break things, and the skin on his knuckles, when he was mad. Kain and Michael were telling him to calm down, obviously confused as to what was making their leader so furious.

Luke had his memories back. I could tell because of the recognition his eyes had when they landed on me. I took flight, but the chains held me back.

"Luke, calm down. You don't want to end up like me, under watch all the time," I tell him, and he takes in the chains. He takes a shaky breath and unclenches his fist. He leans against the glass, his hands clenching and unclenching spasmodically.

I look at the chain that connects him to one corner of the tank, away from Kain and Michael, who are also chained.

"Caity, oh, god, you…" he trails off, looking at me. I grin at him. I don't bring up the crack.

"Yeah, I made the mistake of rubbing my eyes. It didn't work out the way that it was supposed to," I tell him softly.

"What did you do?" he asks, eying the chains.

"I didn't like his desk," I tell him, just as softly as before. He disappears briefly before appearing at the wall closest to us.

"Well… most people don't like being on evil tyrant desks," Luke says, trying to retain the lighter mood we had managed to acquire.

"You should see the paperwork!" I tell him seriously.

"I'm sure that you can understand more of it. I can't read it, remember?" Luke asks dryly.

"Yeah… I forgot that," I tell him. He gives me a look, and I mentally sigh in relief because if he's giving me a look, he's beginning to calm down.

"Besides, you are the only one here that likes reading," he adds.

"Kain does!" I protest.

"Yeah, but Kain's a nerd," Luke said. We both look at Kain, who stared at us in confusion.

"Don't worry, Kain. Luke got his memories back," I tell him in Cybertronian. Understanding dawns on his face and he nods. Megatron decides that now is a good time to mess up our happy-ish reunion.

"It appears that you will have someone to keep you company, Girl," he says. I stare at him in horror.

"What? Why?" I snap.

"You do not wish to-" he begins.

"No. I would rather he stay here, normally away from you," I snap.

"I cannot have him breaking the tank anymore and I cannot have him telling the others about their memories before their time. So now he will come with us," he growls. I click my mouth shut, glaring at him defiantly.

Luke doesn't go easily. The crack was joined by many others as he ducked and dodged and even made quite a few dents in Megatron's servo. But Megatron was a forty-five foot robot. He doesn't give up easily.

Luke is chained to the tyrant's other shoulder, much to both of our displeasure. He gave a little cheer and a laugh as he saw the destroyed desk. "Why?" he asked.

"I was trying to break the chain," I tell him. He gives me a look and I grin sheepishly.

"Nice going," he says.

"I know, right?" I say with a grin.

He rolls his eyes, glaring as Megatron none too gently sets us down on his desk. I kick at one of the dents, increasing the depth in it.

"Stop denting my desk!" Megatron growled. Luke gives me a look of warning and I give him a pleading look back. He shakes his head slightly, and I sigh, slumping down.

"Had I known you listen to him, I would have captured him the first time!" Megatron growled. He left, leaving me and Luke to catch up. Luke laughed at me about the shark, while I laughed at him for accidentally breaking the tank.

"Well, I had just relived everything, and you know how annoying it was when during the whole protocol thing, it kept restarting because someone was messing with the glyphs?" he demanded.

"You know how annoying it was to keep redoing them?" I ask cheekily.

He snorts. "You know what else is annoying?" he asks.

"That the glyphs keep saying that he's an ally when we know he's not?" I ask.

He gives me a surprised look. "Kain and Michael can't see any of the glyphs. I wasn't expecting you to…" he says.

"Yeah… You okay?" I ask him.

"Am I okay? Are YOU?" he asks, gently examining my face.

"High pain tolerance," I tell him.

"No, I mean about your memories," he clarifies.

I sigh. "I have a very hard time connecting to things emotionally. Including myself, apparently," I say. Did that make me a bad person?

"But.. did your boyfriend have a problem with that?" Luke asks.

I stare at him for a moment, pushing past memories. "We weren't dating," I tell him.

"Oh really? Then what is this?" he asks, pulling out his phone.

"It's your phone. I didn't even know you still had it," I tell him, glaring.

He turns it on and flips to a photo before showing it to me. I screech, reaching out and trying to grab it from him. I just barely can't reach him. "Why would you take picture of that?" I demand.

"Because you looked so cute! It was an adorkable picture moment!" he says, laughing and holding the phone so I could still see it.

"IT WAS NOT! I fell asleep! How is that adorkable?" I growl, making another failed grab for the phone.

"Kain got a better picture. He got a picture of the two of you walking down the hallway, holding hands," he says. I freeze, burying my face in my hands. Had I had any amount of skin on my face left, it would have been scarlet, or maybe bright blue, with embarrassment.

"Would you delete that? It's depressing," I tell him. I do not want a reminder for my failed relationship with Brendon. Well, not failed. It had been erased. Erased erased erased.

"Nope. Never," he tells me. I smirk, singing a part of a song that I only knew because of Karate Kid, the new one.

"Never say never," I sing, grinning as his smile drops instantly.

"No. No Justin Bieber. Bad Caity. No," he says, tickling me after putting his phone away from my reach.

"No! Luke, Luke, stop tickling me!" I tell him, trying to get away from him even as he picked me up and continued to tickle me.

"Say sorry," he tells me.

I laugh, and it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm being tickled. "You first," I retort.

"Never!" he says.

I repeat the song clip, barely getting it out between my laughter. He is relentless, until the chains suddenly pull back, making two new dents in the table as we hit the ground hard. I glare at Starscream as he storms into the room after Megatron. Megatron barely spares us a glance other than to take Luke's phone away from him.

"Master, they are menaces!" Starscream complains, glaring at the two of us.

"They are sparklings," Megatron replies easily.

I look up at him, surprised. I did not understand what was up with him. One minute, he was borderlining kind, and the next he was cruel, and the next he was just insane. Right now, I think he's between insane and kind. I was also kind of offended, because I actually know what a sparkling is, and if anything, we're younglings.

"We're not that young," Luke snaps. I blink in surprise. Then I slowly turn to face him. Then I blink again in confusion. "You do realize that you talk a lot, right? I DO listen when you start explaining everything about everything," he tells me.

I just stare at him in shock. Then I grin. Then I silently go into a fit of laughter. Luke is such a nerd! Especially if he remembers that. It had to have been forever ago that I told them about this.

"To us, your entire race might as well be sparklings," Starscream snaps. I stop laughing, contemplating this. I nod in a so-so manner. He was right, after all. Bumblebee, their youngest, was over a thousand years old. A lifetime times ten to a human.

"How long do you guys live?" Luke scoffs.

"Until we are killed," Starscream sneers.

"Sounds boring," Luke says, shrugging.

"Boring?" Starscream asks, sounding offended.

"Well, if you live forever until you are killed, where is the motivation to do anything?" he asks.

"What do you mean, where is the motivation?" Starscream growled. Yep. Definitely offended. Luke was just as good at annoying people, but he has more tact while doing it.

"Well, if you have forever, you have forever to do things, so why would you rush to do it? There isn't any motivation to get everything done in a timely manner," Luke says.

"What, exactly, would you consider a timely manner?" Starscream growls.

"Depends on what you are doing. But, humans, they get so much done in their lives, for the amount of technology they have available to them, because they know that they could die at any moment," Luke says. "What have you done in your lifetime? You were a scientist, then you became the second most hated Decepticon. Not much to be proud of, Dorito," he says.

Starscream pounces, Megatron barely sending him back into the wall before he attacked Luke.

"You are no longer allowed to speak while he is in the room, either," Megatron growls as he literally throws Starscream out of his office.

"YOU ARE SUCH A NERD!" I proclaim as soon as I am able to speak again. Luke glares at me.

"I'm not a nerd, I just listen," he tells me. "You told us about it last year when we were watching the movie. It's kind of hard to forget when you are so excited about it," Luke says dryly.

"I do tend to get a tad bit animated when I'm excited, don't I?" I say sheepishly.

"And you ramble when you're nervous," he adds.

"Yeah, I do that, too," I say. "But, wow, that was smooth. You pissed off Dorito with a lot more tact than I use," I compliment.

He grins, while Megatron makes a noise of distaste. "Why do you insist on antagonizing him? He is multiple times your size, and could crush you in an instant. You are endangering your lives by doing so," he growls.

"He's a bully and a coward. I also tend to be a bit of a bully to people I dislike. And people that I do like. I'm just a bully in general, I guess, but I'm not a coward," I say.

"No, you are foolishly without fear when you should be," Megatron growls.

"Depends on the situation. I can be filled with fear when there really isn't anything to be afraid of," I say, wrapping my chained hands around my legs as I sit.

"Spiders," Luke says. I shiver, glaring at him. He laughs at me.

"Spiders are scary, okay? They can kill you!" I protest.

"So can knives, guns, giant, alien robots. You aren't that afraid of them," Luke says.

"Who says I'm not afraid?" I ask him seriously. "I am afraid. But my fear isn't going to help me get out of this situation."

"It would be more enjoyable if it stopped you from speaking," Megatron grumbled.

"I don't think that God could stop her from speaking," Luke said.

"Agnostic, borderlining atheist," I remind him.

"Don't you go to church every Sunday?" he asks.

"Not my choice. My aunt made me go," I inform him.

"Oh," he says. "That makes sense, I guess," he says after.

I felt something brush against my mind for a moment, but it was gone in the next, but it felt almost disapproving.

"Did you…?" I ask Luke, who nods, looking shaken.

"Okay… That was weird," I say, but I push it out of my mind. No need to dwell on something that was probably going to stress me out more.

"Yeah…" Luke agrees, Megatron has no idea what we are talking about, but he doesn't comment on it. Instead, he pulls out a lot of datapads and begins to read them. I am fast to read some of the glyphs before they go blank, Megatron remembering that I can read them, and now apparently, Luke can as well.

"Whoa whoa whoa. This is an invasion plan," I say, staring at the glyphs just before they disappear. Luke had seen them as well and was just as horrified.

We give each other an alarmed look. I mean, we had known that they weren't going to leave Earth alone, but we hadn't expected them to act so soon. Especially not with us to deal with. But I knew the date that I had read. I knew what day it was today. I knew that the date I had read on the datapad was tomorrow. May twenty-eighth.

Megatron ignored us, not even paying half a mind as he shoved us with one servo and set down another now blank datapad where we had been standing. The chains retracted with us, and now me and Luke were about five feet away from each other, and it would be impossible for us to converse without Megatron overhearing at this distance.

"That's tomorrow," I snap at the tyrant in disbelief.

"It is," he replied, still mostly ignoring us.

"As in, you plan on taking over Earth TOMORROW. How do you plan to do that when you are at Jupiter?" I snap.

"We are no longer by Jupiter. We should arrive on Earth in two hours," Megatron says.

"What? Can I look through the window?' I ask, not believing that we could have gotten to my home planet so quickly.

"Why do you find the blackness of space so interesting?" he growls.

"Because I can," I snap back.

"And we don't believe that we could actually be almost at Earth already," Luke adds.

"I have not lied to you," Megatron growled.

"Well, you have, you said that you were going to kill me slowly and painfully," I remind.

"I have new orders. There is good reason for the glyphs on your arms. To kill you would be my demise," Megatron growls.

"I'm going to die from boredom," I mutter.

"Not if you keep talking," he quipped.

"Even I can't keep talking forever," I retort.

"I live to see the day you can no longer speak," Megatron said, setting down the last datapad and lifting me and Luke up, attaching the chains to his shoulders. "I will take you to see the window," he adds, sounding annoyed.

"Thank you," I say, only half sarcastic. Megatron seems to pause but continues on, getting to the window, where we could see Earth in all her beauty. "Pretty!" I say as soon as my feet hit the sill and I race almost into the glass, staring at the planet.

"Pretty- oh," Luke says, beginning to tease me until he sees it for himself.

I let out a short laugh as he nearly runs into the glass, but sees it at the last second. "How can you even see this thing?" he grumbles.

"I've been here before," I remind him.

"Right, you're the idiot who got yourself caught."

I shove him lightly, and he laughs at my expense when it doesn't even shift him, as usual. "One of these days, I'm going to figure out why I'm friends with you, cut the tie, and smack you for all the times you've teased me," I grumble.

"No you won't," he says, bumping my shoulder teasingly. I stumble to the side, glaring at him. Megatron stops us before we can get into a friendly shoving match, though instead of putting us on his shoulders, he carries us in his servos into a room that I haven't seen before. Which a good thing for Megatron, because if I had, I would have known to teleport away, taking the tyrant with me or not.


	16. Flawed Prison

_**Sorry for such a long wait, lovelies! Well, here is chapter 16! I hope you enjoy and thank you all for the reviews and the follows. They are the best!**_

Cages. There are four cages, but instead of bars, there is light. A forcefield of sorts. I don't even managed to protest before I am placed in one of the cages. The walls go black. I don't panic. I saw the cage. There isn't anything in here to hurt me.

After about twenty minutes of silence, I move, the chain clinking and startling me. Remember what I said about no panicking? Yeah, forget about that. I was getting scared of the empty blackness, especially when the cage starts shaking then suddenly jolts a while after I begin to panic. I clench my hands into fists, breathing steadily to try to calm down.

I felt something brush against my mind again, more concrete than before. It scares me again, but it leaves behind the feeling of comfort and a tad bit of exasperation.

I try to peer through the blackness, but there is no light. Nothing to pull into my sight. That is until my vision seemed to itch and everything went infrared. I jolt back, astounded by the change. And scared. I shutter my optics, not wanting to see the strange new change.

I don't know how many days pass before I realize that it, well, has been days. I have never had a need to be around people. Ever. I grew up knowing that people will turn their backs on you in an instant if it suits them, that true loyalty is a rare trait. It really wasn't surprising that I expected everyone to turn their backs on me. But I've never actually gone this long without talking to a person. It reminded me of every single nightmare I had ever had.

No matter what I say, I need people in my life. Just to prove to myself that I haven't gotten stuck in one of my nightmares. Also, humans and Cybertronians are very social beings they thrive off of social contact. I'm no different in that aspect. This, for me, was torture. Nothing to distract me, just my thoughts, the impending fear of danger, and whatever kept brushing against my mind.

It only got worse when one of the walls of the cage lit up, showing me live feed of the destruction going on in the world. Remember when I talked about the three stages of Megatron? Yeah, this was him being cruel.

I think that by the eighth month of the take-over, everyone sort of gave up fighting them. I think I sort of broke by then, too. It was just… awful. People were being captured, sent to different facilities that the 'Cons had set up to process them, to register them. The women and children and the men were all separated during that process. Whole families would be killed as they fought back.

Another thing that sort of broke me down was that once the processing was done, they normally were not reunited with their loved ones. They were shipped around the world to be enslaved by different mechs. The children, if they were still too young to be without a parent, stayed with their mothers, but once they reached a certain age, they were sent to large buildings, where they would learn how to live successfully under the Decepticon tyranny. How did I know that? Megatron kindly explained it all off to the side via glyphs.

After a year of being stuck inside the box, just watching, I had enough of just pacing my cage. I kicked the wall where the images still flowed, holding back a yelp as electricity arced and shocked me. I did get some satisfaction in the screen flickering, though. Then I stared in astonishment as the cuffs on my wrists and ankles clicked off. I teleport experimentally away from them as they snap back together. I don't get away fast enough, because one of the cuffs bites into my arm, closing it back into the vise-like grip it had had before.

It still sucks, but the fact that I now only have one limb being constantly secured gives me something dangerous to someone who is so close to breaking. It gives me hope. I kick the screen again, the electricity doing the same as before, freeing me. I teleport away again. I still don't venture out of the cage. I can't really remember what is on the outside of it. Instead, I lean against the far wall, twisting my limbs around, getting used to the full range of movement again.

After doing that, I break the screen. It now was stuck, flickering on and off, long cracks flowing across it like lightning. I breathe deeply, though it is more of a comfort thing than anything. I focus on one thing I DO remember for sure. My childhood home.

I appear and disappear just as quickly, going instead into the woods on the edge of my old property, which are thick, and off limits to everyone because of all the poison ivy and dense trees and brush. Not that me and my sisters ever listened to that rule. I peer at the house from behind a shield of trees, glaring at the mechs there, taking the family who lived there into custody. Five adolescent females. One adult female. One adult male. Nothing really special about any of them. Only, the adult male, my Dad, was fighting to protect the adolescents. Me and my sisters.

I turn away as he is captured, bloody and unconscious. The girls put up a fight as well. They are fighting to protect the youngest, a baby not even two years old yet. I zero in on my step-mother, who willingly left, knowing she stood no chance against them.

I let out a sigh of relief when they force her to take Libby with her. Once they take off with them, I make my move. They go to grab my sisters and me, well, me from this dimension, and they are suddenly gone. I have no idea why it took them so long to get to South Dakota, but they started in California with the processing and they basically just secured the world. So it would take a long time to get to the middle of nowhere South Dakota.

"I remember you!" little me says.

"I remember you too, sweetie, but you have to be quiet," I tell me. We are deep in the woods, and I can tell that they are all scared.

"Who are you?" Ellie asks, pulling me away. Er, not me. Wow, this was confusing.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," I tell her, looking her in the eye.

"I think you would be surprised," she growls.

"Ellie, believe me, I know you. You would NEVER believe me," I tell her.

"H-how do you-" she asks, backing up the girls.

"Well, crap. Let's just say that I know you in a different dimension. You are brilliant, you have a boyfriend that you are taking forever to get engaged to, you are going to college to be a nurse, and you are super good at it. You are brilliant, though I think that you gave up a lot of what would have made you happy to make sure that you could support yourself in the real world. BUT, that won't happen in this dimension, because I messed up the timeline. Oh, and I'm from seven years in the future of a different dimension, that's how I know all that stuff," I say, teleporting us away again. The Decepticons had been getting close.

"But… who are you?" she asks.

"...How old are you right now, Ellie, fourteen or fifteen?" I ask.

"Fourteen," she says proudly.

"Huh, for once you aren't five years older than me," I say, looking her in the eyes, then looking at little me. "Remember how Hermione had the Time Turner in The Prisoner of Azkaban?"

She nods, still confused. "Yeah. She went back in time so she could get to all her classes."

"Okay, yup. Well that's kind of what I did, only the Time-Turner is an asshole that put me and a couple of friends in the wrong dimension as well as putting us back in time. By the way, you know me VERY well. You've taken care of me most of my life. You know, until I drew the short straw and got sent here," I say, trailing off and teleporting away once more.

"I have an idea, but I can't be sure. You can't be, you're made of metal," she says, still distrustful.

I focus on searching my mind for how the heck I could make a holoform. I find it, kindly explained through glyphs. I apply it over my body, hiding the wings, making me look human again. They all gasp. Little me touches my face, and I let her.

"You're…" Kayla says.

"Call me Caity. It'll be less confusing. You, by the way, are engaged to who appears to be the love of your life right now, you just graduated, you live in a big house that you bought, you have two dogs, and you are still the stubborn, amazing person that you are now, and you always have looked after us," I tell her, looking between little me and Shelby.

"Caity.. I like it. Do you spell it right?" little me asks.

"Of course I do. C-A-I-T-Y," I say, teleporting us away once more.

"Oh! That is so cool! Are we cool in the future, in your dimension? Do we have a lot of friends? Do… do Mom and Dad stop fighting?" little me asks.

"Caitlin… No. They did what we have seen coming for years. They got a divorce. You and Shelby go to live with Aunt Meghan, Kayla and Libby live with Melinda, and Ellie is off at college before the divorce even happens," I say, sighing.

"Why… Why don't we live with Dad?" Shelby asks. Of course. Why did we all have to be such daddy's girls back then.

"Because Dad is an idiot and is a giant teenager, and he can't handle taking care of two kids by himself. But it's for the better," I assure.

"Why don't you call Mom Mom?" Caitlin asks.

I crouch so I am at her eye level. Wow I was short. "I learned to stick up for myself," I tell her. "Now, how far have the 'Cons gotten?" I ask Ellie.

"As far as our house. I think that they are going to Gayville next, then Vermillion and then Yankton, then to Sioux Falls," she tells me.

"They haven't gotten to your grandparent's house, have they?" I ask Kayla.

"No. That's where we were going when they got here," Kayla replies. I hug her.

"Let's go, then. Hang on," I warn, teleporting us to the Farm. I sigh in relief at seeing it. "This place doesn't change much in seven years," I say.

I take a head count. Ellie, age fourteen. Kayla, age twelve. Shelby, age ten. Caitlin, age nine. All here. "KK, go get grandma and tell her that Melinda and Mike and Libby were captured, but a nice bot helped you back. Don't tell anyone who I am and how I got you out. The last thing that we want is word getting out that I escaped and that I'm in South Dakota," I warn.

"Wait, escaped?" Caitlin asks.

"Life really goes to hell for us. We're kind of wanted by Megatron. Now, go, shoo. And at first sound of bots, of ANY kind, especially pointy ones, or a nice one that is red and blue and has blue optics, those are their eyes, you run, got it? You run and you hide and you listen to your sisters," I order. I disappear, appearing in Cotton Park in Vermillion, high up in one of the trees. Wow was I glad for having lived around here. I could see everything from my vantage point, but I doubted anyone could see me. I let the holoform drop, stretching my wings. Megatron had been right. Those with wings needed to fly, or else they would go crazy, and I have been itching to fly since I had escaped.

I don't fly outright. I'm not stupid. I know that they have eyes everywhere. But I do swop among the trees, just enough to relieve the itch, before I am gone again. I appear in Sioux Falls on the top of a building. I look around, cautious for watchers, before swooping down into an alley and applying the holoform once more. Only, I change. I change my blond hair with lots of natural brown highlights to a pure, deep brown, thin out my face, widen my eyes, and shift my body type to slim and changed my outfit so it would fit in, making me unimportant, therefore, just a face in the crowd. And boy was there a crowd once I got to the street.

Cars were no longer trusted. People walked or biked everywhere. I am fast to move through it, just taking in the view and gathering information and gossip. Honestly? I felt like I freaking living Assassin's Creed.

"Excuse me. Where are your parents?" a man asks me, grabbing my arm as I ignore him.

The guys puts me on edge. "No habla ingles," I say smoothly, pulling my arm away and disappearing into the crowd, changing my holo as I did. Out of the corner of my eyes, I keep an eye on the man, seeing him search the crowd for me, then scowl and blink out of existence. I knew it. Holoform.

I spread the word. There are 'Cons around. No one knows that it's me who starts it, but pretty soon, the people are clearing out, getting into the relative shelters of their basements. I disappeared, teleporting onto the same building I had first appeared on, scanning around for the 'Con. I spot him, on the far edge of the block, glaring at me. I grin and wave, disappearing once more.

I appear on the building across from him. "You might want to work on your people skills," I tell him, before leaving the city. I make a couple of stops, basically clearing the small city of the kids. The parents thank me, trusting me. I am honored by that trust. I take them to the Farm. It will take them a while to get to here. Even with so many people here.

I bring food and other supplies, but also some, or a lot, of military men who were out hunting for the mech. Maybe not everyone had given up, after all. I took them to the Farm, telling them to protect the kids and make sure there wasn't any trouble, and to maybe start building a bunker big enough to house the kids if anything goes wrong.

They trust me. Probably because I look like a kid. Maybe it's because the first soldier to question me got verbally slapped when I yelled at him for being heartless and unwilling to protect the next generation. Maybe it's because when I let down my holoform, resting for a moment from all the teleporting around, their apparent leader brought me a blanket and put it over me while I recharged lightly.

"Kid, hey, kid. Thanks. I don't know why you're going against your kind, but we really appreciate it," he said.

"You guys aren't the only ones who Megatron has torn their family apart. Besides, it's my fault all of this is happening. Might as well take responsibility and try to fix it," I tell him.

He sits on his heels clasping his hands together. "How is this your fault?" he asks.

"I got me and my friends stuck in this dimension, changed the timeline. None of this was supposed to happen," I tell him.

"Well, that bites. But I still don't see how this is your fault, how I see it is Fate takes you and makes you make choices without you knowing the consequence. You can't have known that all this was going to happen," he consoles. I am pretty sure the guys had told me this before, but coming from a total stranger, it hits home more.

"Maybe. But I still want to help," I say.

"You said that you are from a different dimension?" a soldier asks.

"Yup. They didn't exist in my dimension," I tell him. "Now my dimension is erased. No going home for me after this war is over," I tell them. "I got more kids to save. Be back soon!" I tell them, disappearing. I finally am brave enough, with the slight rest that I have energizing me, to go into one of the facilities in Northern Nebraska. The kids, not yet broken, are wary of me at first, until I tell them how I'm going to get them out. I get the older kids out first. They can help the soldiers with the younger kids already there. Then I get the younger kids, helpfully gathered together when the alarms went off. I have on my holoform, changing it every time that I reappear. I get the kiddies out, a lot of them scared, into the safety of the haven that was the farm. The older kids were all working with the soldiers that weren't patrolling the perimeter that they had set up on making a bunker. I got more supplies, dropping it off in the house. There is where I get stopped by a shotgun to my face and a wary face holding it.

"Thank you for getting them out, but who are you?" Grandma Linda asks me. I let down my holoform.

"I'm Caity-" I say, before she puts down the gun and hugs me.

"Oh, the girls told me. You've grown so much, Caitlin!" she tells me. I smile at her.

"Well, yeah, seven years away from here. Technically, I'm sixteen now. But, I don't think I age the same way anymore," I tell her.

"God keep you safe, and please don't do anything stupid," she warns.

"I make no promises, and whatever god runs this dimension, I don't think he likes me very much," I tell her, donning my original holoform so she can see that I am joking. "Anything that you need?"

"Cookie dough!" she says. Of course she does.

"I… ugh, looks like I'm raiding Walmart," I say, spinning and teleporting to Yankton, the closest one to the Farm. I grab all the cookie dough I can and take it back to her, where she sets to work baking.

"Can I borrow the guest bedroom and crash?" I ask hesitantly. A little dog comes up to me, licking at my hands. "Hey, Bullseye. You wanna come cuddle with me?" I ask.

"Take off your shoes," she warns. I roll my eyes, sliding them off. They disappear, another trace of my dimension gone.

"Night night, don't let the 'Cons attack tonight," I say in a tired, singsong voice.

I awake to hearing people all over the base moving around, getting started with their day. I walk outside, checking on the nearly completed bunker. The hundreds of kids here really got it moving. It's about the size of the Dakota Dome, underground, concrete coating the walls, heavy, lead-lined doors as an entrance. I help with getting the heavier supplies inside, tiring myself out as well as making the bunker fully inhabitable by mid-morning.

"Caity!" a little voice calls to me. I turn and bend down just barely fast enough to catch my little cousin, Collin. Dillon was left behind with Meghan. They refused to leave. I hadn't had time to argue.

"Hey, Colly-bear. What's up?" I ask.

"That soldier over there keeps saying that you are a demon, but you are nice. What are you?" he asks innocently.

"Aw. You just go tell him I'm one of Satan's Angels, and that we're waging war on the bad robots because they are messing up our planet. Got that?" I ask grinning and nuzzling him close. It's kind of obvious to see which one of my little cousins is my favorite. Whoops.

He nods and runs of to the soldier, who nods and laughs, giving me a cautious smile, which I easily return. I spend the rest of the day bringing in more kids from all over the country. I know that they are all on alert now, but they can't figure out how I keep getting in, nor what I actually look like. As a precaution, though, at the end of the day, I take a side trip to Diego Garcia and grab a pair of headphones, blocking out all noise, just on the odd chance that I somehow run into Megsey or OP.

I don't, but I still don't take off the headphones until they close the bunker door and they lock it from the inside. They lined it in metal as well, welding it securely using the materials from the junkyard. Thank gods that no 'Cons had been found on the property.

I know that I can't keep up the teleporting, so I take the rest of the day off, petting the horses, feeding the chickens, basically doing farm chores. I stay away from the sheep, and nobody but my family from this dimension gets why. I had fallen through a hole in the hay store, right into the feeding trough of the sheep. There had been a ram right next to me, calmly eating and I was forever scarred, hating sheep forever.

"Hey, aren't you going to come into the bunker? We're about to lock it up for the night," the leader of the soldiers asks. I had brought more soldiers, and this place was pretty well protected.

"Nah. Close it up. I can get in if I need to. I think… I think I'm going to fly around for a while, practice a bit. Get a bird's eye view of things," I say, spreading my wings and taking off, circling around the farm while keeping a keen eye on everything. I groan when I see a couple of kids sneaking off. I grab them, dropping them off inside the now closed bunker.

"Sorry!" they squeaked. They were still so wary of them.

"Just be careful of the time. If I hadn't been flying, you would have been locked out," I remind them, smiling and ruffling their hair gently. They run off, going to find either their siblings, somewhere to sleep, or both.

I take off again, enjoying the feeling of stretching my wings. It was lucky that I did, because I saw either 'Cons or 'Bots coming towards the Farm. After a moment, I decide that it is definitely 'Bots because of the familiar Pontiac Solstice and Top Kick. No one else. They must have heard about the activity around this area and come to check it out. I teleport to the bunker again.

"Hey, soldier," I say, zipping over to him.

"First Lieutenant Wallows, ma'am," he informs me.

"Wallows, you guys are going to have company. They're good guys. Normally all good guys have blue optics, like I do. But, don't mention me too much. They're going to be pissed with me enough as it is," I say.

I go to turn away when he gently grabs my arm. "Why?"

"Well, they know who I am. They're one of the first that met me and my friends when we arrived in this dimension. I've been… I've been a prisoner of war for the past year or so… They're going to be mad that I didn't contact them at all once I got out. I don't plan on being here when they-" I pause, hearing the sound of engines on the gravel driveway. "Oh, they're here. You might want to greet them," I say, patting Wallows on the shoulder and disappearing, appearing high in the sky, flying around. I landed in one of the pine trees, watching the whole thing go down without them seeing me. That was the plan, at least. But, like all good plans, it sort of went wrong.


	17. Return of the Bots

_**I hope you all like it! I would love a review! Anywho, you will probably get a lot of chapters soon, because I've gotten this entire story written now! Enjoy!**_

Lennox exited Hide's cab, greeting Wallows and being obviously surprised when Wallows told the story of how all of this started. The two accompanying mechs outburst had me ducking behind branches to stay hidden.

"CAITY!" Jazz roared, turning and scanning the area. A tiny red dot came to rest on my arm as he finally spotted me. "Teleport. I dare you. See if you can move before I tranq. ya," he growls.

"Shit," is all I can say.

"Get ovah here," he growls. Slowly, carefully, I spread my wings, flying silently over to them. I land slightly behind Wallows, who turns and glares at me.

"You aren't using me as a shield," he says, going quickly into the bunker and closing it, not locking it, behind him.

"Well there goes that plan," I mutter. "Hi. Long time no see."

"You… You fragging glitch processed pit-spawned slagger! You… You've been captured for a year, and all you can say is HI?" Ironhide roared.

"Well what do you want me to say? I don't have time to deal with this. I shouldn't have stayed this long. I should be out getting more supplies for the kids and the adults to pass around," I say, and go to turn away, when Lennox grabs my arm.

"You're real, right?" he asks.

I give him a confused look, until I realize that I have a partial holoform on. I let it down, glaring at them defiantly. I was silently daring them to comment. Jazz, being ever the challenger, did.

"Slag it. You've gone full change," he says. Lennox rolls his eyes and brings me into a hug. I stop breathing. I was no longer used to physical contact. Besides for Grandma Linda's hug, I hadn't been approached with contact, I had always initiated it. My surprise must have showed in my body language, because he sighed and released me slowly.

"What happened?"

"I threw a tantrum," I say dryly. "I managed to ruin Megatron's desk, but he probably has a new one, it's been a year, after all. But, yeah… It's been a year. That's plenty of time for everything to change," I say.

"You threw a tantrum?" Jazz asks.

"Yeah… I don't like being chained up, and I don't like Starscream. After having to hear Dorito basically insult everything I cared about, I had to vent," I say.

"And what did that accomplish?" Jazz asks dryly.

He still has the laser on me, and I know that it isn't leaving until they finish their little interrogation. I sigh, ducking my head down. "More chains, less freedom, and basically getting called an idiot for losing so much energon," I say.

"I think you are the only being in existence that could ruin Megatron's desk and get told off for spilling your own energon," Ironhide muttered.

"Yay, lucky me. But, after that, I got shoved into a cage and had to watch the invasion happen for the past year. I only got out because I kicked the screen finally and the electricity made the chains unclasp," I tell them.

"You were lucky, then. But your brothers…" Ironhide began, trailing off.

"I know what happened. They've broken. I don't blame them. I will never blame them. But they aren't Luke, Kain, and Michael anymore. They're Subjects 1, 2, and 3," I say brokenly. "How is Sam?" I ask.

"He's gone full change, too. He's back at base, which we KNOW that you have been to," Lennox pauses, glaring at the headphones dangling around my neck.

"What? I've been attracting attention. I didn't want to risk it if Megatron showed up at one of the facilities," I say.

"Oh yeah. Our sources say that Megatron is pissed at you not only escaping, but causing so much trouble for him," Lennox says. I look up at the sky.

"I really do need to be off getting supplies," I say.

"No ya don't. Ya have got ta be tired, you've been appearing all ovah the states," Jazz says, raising the laser so it points just above my spark. I glare at him. I teleport, only to land about a foot away, dizzy and swaying on my feet.

"I told ya I would tranq. ya before ya could teleport," he reminds.

"So you did. But be warned. It is going to take a lot more than one tranq. to knock me out. Not to keep me from teleporting, but still. Come on in. By the way, you scare mini-me, I kill you," I warn.

"Mini-you?" Ironhide asks in confusion.

"Me from this dimension. She's nine now. She just turned nine a couple of months ago. Weird, since I'm sixteen and a half now…"

"There is two of you now?" Jazz asks.

"Don't worry. She hasn't learned to be… well, me, yet," I assure, opening the door the the bunker, glad that is was huge, and gestures for them to enter. The bots transform and drive through, careful not to run over anything. I enter as well, locking the door behind me and sighing. I am so bone tired, I'm amazed that the tranq. didn't knock me out. I remove any traces of tiredness as I hear a familiar laugh, and I turn, catching Caitlin in my arms and lifting her up onto my shoulder. She screams in delight, holding on tightly so she doesn't fall. I don my holo and calmly walk further into the bunker, grinning as Jazz and Ironhide were swarmed.

"Who are they?" she asks.

"Friends. They are a little mad at me at the moment, but we can go say hi, if you want," I say.

"Why are they mad at you?" Caitlin asks. I sigh at mini-me.

"Because I hadn't seen them for a year," I say vaguely.

"Can we go say hi?" Caitlin asks, for once dropping the topic.

I nod and carry her over, grinning at the look of awe the Lennox had as he saw us.

"This is you when you were little?" he asks, holding out his arms and taking her from me. I nod.

"Hi! I'm Caitlin. Who are you? How do you know Caity? Can you not be mad at her anymore? If she had gone to say hi to you, the bad robots, the um… um… Decepticons… would have taken me and my sisters. They already have my little baby sister along with my mom and Daddy, and I really miss-" she goes on and on, until I cover her mouth with my hand.

"One question at a time. Let him answer," I say.

Lennox holds a hand over his own mouth, laughing into his hand. "It's about time that you get a taste of your own medicine," he says to me. I glare at him stonily. He just grins and hides behind Caitlin. "So, I am Lennox. I'm a soldier. I met her in a big battle when the bad bots first tried taking over Earth. She said hi and left, shot Megatron, got trapped in a cellar, then got a whole lot of power from an ancient artifact," he tells her. I facepalm as Caitlin looks at me, glaring.

"You idiot. Everyone knows that you don't touch old artifacts," she scolds.

"I had a lapse in judgement," I tell her. She rolls her eyes and turns her attention back to the once again laughing Lennox. "You can shut it," I growl. He outright laughs now. "Damnit Lennox, stop it."

Caitlin gasps, hand over her small mouth. "You said a bad word! You can't say that!" she protests.

"I'm sixteen. Almost seventeen. I can say what want," I tell her. She and I begin to argue over it, and Lennox is just laughing the entire time because neither of us will drop it. I am so glad that Jazz and Hide are busy answering all the questions of the children surrounding them.

"Okay, okay, stop. Neither of you are going to back down," Lennox says.

"Brat," I growl.

"Jerk," Caitlin replies.

"Idiot," I growl.

"Moron," Caitlin says. I burst out laughing the same time that she does. "Oh, right, anyways, are you still mad at Caity?"

"I'm not. But the two big bots up there still are," Lennox says. "You say that the 'Cons have your mom and dad and little sister?" he asks.

Caitlin's bottom lip trembles and she nods sadly. "I want Daddy. But, when they took him away, he was all beat up, and there was blood and, and, and" she hiccups before continuing, "he had blacked out. Then they took Mom and Libby, that's my baby sister, and they left. They were about to take me and Ellie and Kayla and Shelby, but Caity saved us and took us to the Farm, or here, I mean and she's been helping people. But, I still want Daddy," she says, tears slipping down her gaunt face. I had been such a daddy's girl. I still was a daddy's girl. I was just pissed at him for basically just dropping all connections.

"Hey, Dad's gonna be okay. I'm sure that Melinda and Libby are going to be okay, too," I say.

"What did you mean when you said that you learned how to stand up for yourself?" Caitlin asks innocently.

"Not here," I say, looking around at all the people. "Where are your sisters?" I ask.

"Um, Ellie was trying to get Shelby to go to sleep, but she was throwing a fit because she wanted to see the bots. Kayla was supposed to be watching me, but we snuck off to go see them anyways," she says.

I grin, though it is quickly gone. "You should have listened to Ellie. It's way past your bedtime," I tell her.

"You don't have a bedtime," she grumbles.

"Of course I have a bedtime. It just varies from night to night," I tell her. I grin at her scowl.

"You should be going to bed, anyways," Lennox scolds.

"I will when the activity dies down. I can't with all of this noise," I say. I hold out my arms for Caitlin to be passed over, and I chuckle as she yawns.

"I want KK," she tells me. I nod, walking through the crowd and tapping Kayla's shoulder. She scowls at me.

"No," she says.

"Then hang onto her, okay? She's half asleep as it is," I tell her, handing off Caitlin to her. She nods, smoothing Caitlin's short hair and prompting her to just sleep. She goes off to the corner that they claimed where Ellie begins to scold them for wondering off. I smile as Shelby and Caitlin cuddle close to each other, keeping each other safe from bad dreams as they always have.

"Ya should sleep as well, little one," a voice says behind me. I turn, seeing Jazz's holoform glaring at me sternly. I roll my eyes, walking through the crowd to find my cousins to make sure that they are getting to bed as well. They were missing their parents and little brother, too, and they were handling it worse. They were brought up in a very sheltered life, which I was jealous of to no end.

"Caity!" little Collin cried, tears in his eyes.

"Hey Colly. What's the matter?" I croon, rubbing soothing circles on his back and hugging him close.

"I want mommy," he says.

"I know, but your mommy is with your daddy and some other adults that have younger kids that they don't want moved, and they are making sure that they are keeping safe," I soothe. "You'll see her again." I hope, I silently add.

"But… but how am I supposed to go to sleep without a goodnight hug and kiss from mommy?" he asks.

"How about you and I go get Keegan and you guys sleep with your cousins tonight? I'm sure Ellie would be happy to have you by her," I say, distracting him. He nods, smile brightening at the thought of seeing his only cousins, besides for Erin, who was also by Keegan. I grab Keegan and Erin, who is just a little bit younger than Collin, and who insists on being carried by me, and I drop them off with Ellie, who thanks me. She may not know Erin, but she's the boys' cousin, so that makes her family.

"Hey, are you going to go to sleep soon?" she asks. I feel odd at her asking me, like I was boss. It had never happened to me.

"Maybe. Hopefully," I say.

"Caity! I want you to stay!" a couple of voices complain.

"I know, but there are other kids that should be getting to sleep, so I'm going to go check on them, make sure that they don't need to be relocated or anything. No fighting, Shelby, Caitlin," I warn. They grin at me sheepishly. They had just begun to tussle, even though they shouldn't have.

I spin around, completely ignoring Jazz as my attention is brought to a lone little boy who has tears in his eyes.

"Hey sweetie. What's wrong?" I ask, bending down.

"I want my mommy," he tells me. I sigh. Everyone wanted that tonight.

"I know sweetie. But right now, you have to go to sleep, okay?" I ask gently.

He shakes his head. "No! The bad robots will get me if I sleep!" he protests. I spot a little cross necklace around his neck and get an idea. Instead of outright covering my wings with the holo, I make them look like they aren't made out of metal, but rather real feathers.

"I'll watch over you, okay?" I ask. He looks up in awe, gently touching the wings. He smiles and nods, cuddling close to me. I stand up fully with him in my arms, looking around for a pillow and blanket that he could sleep with, finally finding one and setting him down, sitting down myself and stroking his short brown hair as he finally falls asleep. I sigh, amazed that there were still little kids wandering aimlessly around the bunker. I set off, once again ignoring Jazz's protests, to get to a little girl who is, once again, crying.

"Hey. Why aren't you sleeping?" I ask.

"My sissy don't like me. She won't let me sleep by her. She is wit her fwends," she says sadly. Thank gods it's not another kid missing their parents.

"Ah. That's no good. Let's go talk to her, okay?" I say, picking up and following her direction to where her sister was, sitting and chatting seriously with a couple of other young teens. They see me and smile, though one scowls at the sight of the little girl in my arms.

"Hey, miss. Thanks again for getting us out of there," she says.

"You're welcome. But your sister can't be wondering around here, and I know you don't want her hearing your conversation, but you need to step up and look after her. The soldiers aren't here to play parent to the little kids, and your parents aren't here to look after you, either, so you need to make sure she is with you at all times. If you want to have grown up conversations, then wait until she is asleep," I scold gently, handing the now sleeping little girl over.

"Sorry. I didn't want to give her any nightmares," she whispers, abashed.

"What were you guys talking about?" I ask.

"Well… You. We were talking about why you would help us," she says, sounding like she was afraid I would be mad at her.

"I'm helping because Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, did me a lot of wrongs, and this is my revenge, and because it is the right thing to do." I turn and leave them at that, looking around for any more stragglers, though most seemed to have gotten the message by now, when I am stopped by the same girl.

"Is it true what the soldiers are saying? That you are from another dimension sent to help us out?"

I pause at that, turning around slowly. "I don't know why I was sent here. But I am helping," is all I say.

"Thank you, then, angel, for helping," she says quietly. I smile softly as I step away, getting more kids to sleep and becoming progressively more tired as it got closer to midnight.

Jazz finally grabs me and carries me, struggling, over to his bi-pedal form, glaring at the ceiling as though cursing Primus about something.

"Jazz, put me down!" I order.

"No. Bedtime," he growls. I teleport, not a good idea, out of his arms and land in a heap on the floor.

"I can't sleep," I growl. "I'm going to do another sweep, make sure that none of the kids need anything."

"No ya ain't. Ya need sleep, now sleep," he growls. I shake my head and teleport away again, into the middle of the bunker, where there are a couple of really little kids sniffling softly.

"Angel!" a little boy says, crawling onto my lap and nuzzling against me. I lay back, sighing in annoyance as more little kids climb on me, using me like a pillow as they finally went to sleep. I didn't dare move them for fear of waking them. Instead, I curl my wings to form a sort of blanket around myself and allow myself to fall asleep, only to snap awake, trying not to strike out at the innocent bodies lying on me. Energon tears leak from my eye looking optics as I force the images away from my mind.

"Angel, are you okay?" a little voice asks me, shaking my arm a little bit.

"Hmm, yeah. I'm okay. Just had some sad thoughts on my mind, sweetie," I say.

"You are cwying," she says. I nod, smiling.

"Yeah, but it was just a dream," I say.

"I had a bad dweam, too," she tells me.

"Oh yeah? What about?" I ask.

"When the mean wobots took me. It was scawy," she tells me.

"Yeah, the bad guys can be pretty scary," I agree.

"Are you afraid of them?" she asks.

"Are you?"

"Yes," she tells me.

"I am scared, too. I don't like how they are so mean to all of those other people. That's why I rescued all of you, so that they can't hurt you," I say.

"Do you have little brothers and sisters?" she asks me.

"Yeah. I have one little sister, and three little cousins who are like my brothers, because I love them and I live with them, and I treat them just like brothers," I tell her.

"You're a good big sister," she informs me.

"Thank you. Now how about you try to sleep again, hmm?" I say. She doesn't answer, but I feel a small head nuzzling against my side. I slowly fall back to sleep, waking up again all too soon, but this time it's by Jazz, who is lightly nudging my side.

"Ugh, too early," I groan.

"Come on, little one. I'm betting that if ya don't get up soon, one of the kiddies is gonna wake ya up."

I squint and stare up at him. No chance of falling back to sleep now. I slowly get up, moving carefully to ensure that I don't wake up any of the still sleeping kids that were lying against my sides.

"No one else is up!" I whisper protest. He scowls and points over to the corner where Caitlin is obviously awake and looking like she's itching to cause trouble.

"You deal with it. I want to put off the meeting of little you for as long as possible," he growls. I groan and walk over to her, picking her up and carrying her over to the bots, glaring at Jazz.

"Hey, Caitlin, this is Jazz. He's one of the nice bots. But he's mad at me so he decided to wake me up really early. How about you say hi?" I grumble. Caitlin brightens, but she doesn't speak loudly. She knows to be quiet in the morning.

"Hi," she whispers, lightly patting the side of Jazz's alt-mode. He sends out his holoform, glaring at me briefly before turning a bright smile to little me.

"Hi, mini little one," he says. Caitlin giggles quietly, covering her mouth with a small fist.

"You're silly. I'm Caitlin. Nice to meet you. Can you not be mad at Caity?" she asks.

"Well, nice ta meet ya, too. I won't be mad at Caity when she starts ta listen," he says, glaring at me again.

"Oh. We don't listen very good," she says.

"Well," I correct automatically.

"Well, what?" she asks.

"We don't listen very well. Not we don't listen very good," I explain. She rolls her eyes.

"Okay, whatever. You sound like Ellie," she grumbles crossly.

"Nah. Ellie would have called you an idiot," I say.

"That's true. Or quoted Harry Potter," she says. I nod, agreeing.

"Mr. Jazz, how did you meet Caity?" Caitlin asks innocently.

"I had just landed on the planet, and she yelled at me for doing something I hadn't done yet. Messed up the timeline saving my life," he tells her.

"Cool! Was that when she shot Megatron?" she asked.

"Yes, that is when she shot Megatron," Jazz said with a chuckle.

"I wish I was brave enough to do something like that," she said in awe.

"You get there. Maybe. I used to be you, remember?" I say.

"You've been through worse. You are way braver than I am," she argues.

"I AM you," I remind.

"No, you're Caity. I'm Caitlin. I can't be you anymore, because the timeline changed," she says wisely.

I smile. "Yeah, but you are still me. Same DNA, same family, same back-story from about a year ago and back. Don't sell yourself short. You are pretty brave. Or maybe we're both just stupidly stubborn," I say. She smiles at me and hugs me.

"Thanks," she says.

"Eh. Off. No touchy feely stuff," I groan.

"Why?" she asks, not letting go.

"I spent a year without anyone to talk to. I'm still getting used to all these people and getting hugged all the time," I tell her.

"Oh. I'm sorry. I think I would have gone CRAZY if I didn't have someone to talk to, or one of my friends with me, or one of my sisters," she tells me. I don't think that it was meant to be hurtful, but it stung. I wonder how she would have taken the move and everything. Being alone, an outcast, at school would have broke her down a lot. "Where are everyone from your dimension?"

Again, just as innocent, just as curious, not meant to be harmful, but I flinch, remembering the images from last night. "They're gone. Now, I think I see Grandma up. How about you go ask her to help you get some breakfast," I say. She nods and lets me go, running over to the woman and hopping over sleeping bodies.

"Don't ya find it odd ta talk ta yourself?" Jazz asks.

"No. I find her cute. She's so… innocent, despite what she's had to go through," I say, sighing.

"Nicer than you are. She at least acts like a kid," he says, dragging me to sit against his alt-mode and holding me in a hug.

"NO! No touchy feely stuff!" I complain.

"Too bad. Ya are lucky that Boss Bot is busy right now, or he would be here as well," Jazz says.

"Yeah yeah, I know. Now I have to go actually do something productive. You know, like save some more kids from being re-educated," I say.

He sighs and lets me go. "Ya need ta act your age at some point. Ya don't have the entire world restin' on your shoulders," he reminds me.

"No. I have a timeline to make better," I reply, tugging on the headphones and disappearing.

* * *

><p>Hours later, I'm back in the bunker, holding my side in pain and ushering the newly brought kids to go over to the soldiers.<p>

"Are you okay?" Ironhide asks me before I can make my escape. Or, rather, aid in more kid's escape.

"Fine," I say, wincing. I move my hand from my side, glaring at the bright blue energon staining it.

"Uh huh. You got shot, didn't you?" he growls, lifting me up and carrying me to a different part of the bunker.

"Yes, where are you taking me?" I demand.

"Ratchet arrived," he replies.

"Of course he did," I grumble.

"Caitlin is keeping him company," he adds.

"Of COURSE she is," I say, burying my head in my arms.

"CAITY!" an alarmed, young voice shouts.

"Hey sweetie."

"What happened? Are you… are you bleeding?" she asks me.

"Yeah. I got shot," I say.

"By who?"

"An old friend of mine, by the name of Luke, though now he's called Subject 1," I ground out. "You annoying Ratchet?"

"NO! I'm answering questions," she says. I stiffen.

"What questions?" I demand. I glare at Ratchet, who is glaring right back at me.

"He's only asked two. He asked if I had been sick lately, and what I do for fun," she says.

"Oh. Okay then," I say. "Wait, what did you tell him?"

"Um the truth? I like to play with Shelby and ride my bike and go to the park and to read and to jump on the trampoline and to cuddle with Libby and watch movies and-" I cut her off by holding up a hand.

"Got it. You like being a kid for fun," I say.

"What about you? What do you do for fun?" Ratchet asks.

"I hide away from crazy wrench wielding medics that are nosy," I say sarcastically. Caitlin pokes me in the side.

"Be nice," she says.

"Fine. I haven't done anything fun in about a year, other than to cause trouble for the Decepticons," I say honestly.

"See, I was right. She doesn't act like a kid anymore," Jazz comments.

"If you hadn't noticed, there is a war going on," I growl. "Also, can someone please stop worrying about my lack of childishness and please stop my side from bleeding. I'm getting the low energon warning again," I say.

"Again?" Ratchet asks, alarmed.

"Yeah… first time I got attacked by a shark, and the second time I ruined Megsey's desk by throwing a tantrum, basically destroy all the skin I had left at the time. Both times I blacked out from loss of energon…" I say.

"Give me your arm," Ratchet growls, trading me and mini-me with Ironhide to hold me in his servo. I hold out the arm that isn't holding the wound, glaring at him. He does something to it and a port of some sort is revealed. He plugs something into it, and when it beeps, he examines it cryptically.

"He only gave you just enough energon that you would not have the warning flashing, but it's so little that I am surprised that you are still conscious," he growls.

"Cool. Now, I know that that is important, but I still am bleeding. So, yeah," I say.

"Do you want to hold my hand and squeeze it if it hurts?" Caitlin asks, getting dangerously close to the edge of the Ironhide's servo.

"Uh, ugh, please don't stand so close to the edge," I say nervously, not paying that much attention to Ratchet anymore.

She looks down over the edge, her eyes widening and actually going closer to the edge, worrying me even more.

"Caitlin," I snap. She looks up at me. I realize that I had probably scared her by my almost yelling. I take a deep breath. Instead of continuing, I hold out my hand. She grins and Ironhide sets her down right next to me, and she happily takes hold of my holoed servo. I squeeze it gently, and I nearly let go as Ratchet decides that now it would be a good time to repair the wound. Caitlin stares at it in slight horror, squeezing my servo tightly, and me barely refraining from clenching my hand so as to not crush hers.

"Oh my gosh, did that hurt?" Caitlin asks, looking like she was about to cry.

I look her straight in the eyes. "You are crushing my hand," I tell her. She looks at her hand, which is white knuckled, and lets go quickly.

"Oops, sorry," she says. I chuckle under my breath at her naivety, but don't tell her that I had been joking.

"It's okay. You good? See, I'm fine… ish," I add after Ratchet crossly pokes my head.

"You need energon," he informs me. "Don't roll your eyes at me," he adds when both me and Caitlin roll our eyes.

I almost roll them again. "Okay. Caitlin, how about you go play with Shelby. Please don't start a fight, and no punching the other kids," I say. Yeah… that should say a lot about me when I was her age. Ratchet sets her down and she waves at us, before running off, searching for Shelby

"Don't punch anyone?" Ironhide asks.

"Don't start a fight?" Jazz adds.

"I have anger management issues," I say.

That got Ratchet's interest. "Why were you angry?" he asks. I look at him like he is dumb.

"No. No no no. You are not going all psychologist on me. Nope," I say.

"I can't help it. It is interesting," he says, obviously not very sorry about it.

"Not really. Go bother one of the bots if you want to dissect someone's processor," I growl.

"I could ask Caitlin," Ratchet threatens.

"I hadn't realized that I had problems at her age," I told him.

"Interesting. What made you realize that you DID have problems?" he asks.

"I got sent to a child psychologist," I tell him. "I've gone through twenty eight of them," I add.

"You kept count?" he asks.

"Yeah…" I say, rubbing at my eyes, er, optics, getting really annoyed by the flashing warning. "I think I learned more about them than they did about me," I add.

"Isn't the point of it to talk?" Ratchet asks.

"I did talk," I say. "This is me we're talking about, after all."

"You have yet to express such extreme anger tendencies such as starting a fight. Why is that, if you have trouble handling your anger?"

"I write," I say bluntly, rubbing at my optics again.

"Here, drink this," Ratchet says, holding out a cube of… energon.

"Um… no. I am not drinking that," I growl, leaning away from it.

This really confuses all three of the present Autobots. "Why?" Jazz asks, confused.

"Because I'm not a vampire?" I say, looking at them and hoping that they are joking. They aren't.

Ratchet goes into a very long lecture that I can't help but to pay attention to as to why my statement is wrong on so many, many, many levels. I hold up my hand, stopping him.

"Okay, I get it. I'll drink the freaking fuel," I say. He hands it over, beginning to lecture me some more about the importance of having enough energon in my frame to keep it functioning properly, and how he wasn't surprised why I was so tired everyday, because apparently teleporting uses up a lot of energon and I should never again try teleporting without having had at least one cube of energon that day.

"Ratchet, I get it. Seriously. I think you are starting to repeat yourself," I say, though I still haven't taken a sip of the energon because I've been too absorbed in paying attention to Ratchet's lecture.

"Most need me to repeat myself in order to actually hear what I am telling them," he says, glaring at Jazz and Hide.

I finally sip the blue liquid, finding the taste not actually unpleasant. I take another sip, continuing until the cube is gone. It wasn't altogether awkward, the mechs beginning to talk about rumors being cast around. I set the cube down, listening intently as they got to the rumors about me.

"You are becoming very famous among the humans," Ironhide says, sounding half proud, half disapproving.

"I wonder why that is?" I ask sarcastically, looking at all the kids doing random things.

"It can't be because you continue to get easily through all the precautions that the 'Cons set up, including your brothers," Ironhide says.

"Yeah. I have no idea why he would shoot me at ALL," I say bitterly.

"Next time you should try dodging," Hide advises dryly.

"No? You think? I bet that would have worked terrifically if I hadn't been protecting a kid. Luke isn't Luke anymore, really," I say.

"No, he is not. He and your brothers have had their spirits crushed. I suppose it's only through sheer stubbornness that you did not as well. We are very grateful because of this," Ratchet said gravely.

"Eh, giving up's not my style," I says, shrugging my shoulders.

"No, it certainly isn't," they agree.

"Well, thank you, but I need to go again. Getting supp-" I begin to say when I am cut off.

"We have the supplies covered. Take the rest of the day off. Optimus is on his way and should be arriving soon. He has asked to speak with you outside of the bunker as soon as he arrives," Jazz says.

"One more trip, then. One last facility for the day," I say. I put on the headphones when Jazz reluctantly nods and I disappear. They are still being stupid and grouping the kids together, and I pull a stupid decision and teleport the largest group of kids I have tried, though it is still not all of them. I only appear for a moment in the bunker, enough to see Prime but not enough for him to see me. I appear back in the facility, grabbing the last of the kids. As I disappear, I see a flash of a cannon, a familiar face, and I appear in the bunker, quickly releasing the kids and pulling in on myself in pain as electricity races over my frame.

I think that I had just been tasered, Cybertronian style, and gods it hurt. The kids are held back by the soldiers and by large servos. After a while, the electricity stops, allowing me to relax out of the fetal position I had curled into…

"Jeez, everyone. I think I just got tasered. Nothing to gather around for," I joke weakly, taking off the headphones. There is a collective sigh of relief and even a few cheers. "Any of the kids get hurt?" I ask.

"No. Just you. Again. Who shot you this time?" Ratchet asks.

"Kain. Godsdamnit. That hurt," I groan.

"Who's Kain?" mini-me asks.

"He was a very close friend of mine. Like a brother to me. He's under Megatron's control, now, though, so you could say that we are having an argument right now," I explain.

"Oh. Are you okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, mini-me. Don't worry. Though, I am definitely not going out again for a while," I assure, putting down my holoform and sitting up, roughly pulling out a needle from my chest. "Gods I hate needles," I add.

"It has pictures on it," Caitlin says, pointing to the "pictures" that were glyphs.

"It's writing. It says cease and desist, Girl. I think it's from Megatron," I say as though it were no big deal.

"Excuse me, angel?" a voice from the crowd asks.

"Hmm?" I respond, looking for the source. It's a scared looking pre-teen.

"Are you… are you going to stop?" she asks.

"Only until Ratchet, the neon green mech, says that I can go out again. He's a medic," I add at the confused faces looking up at the mentioned medic.

"Not tomorrow, that's for sure," he growls, easily lifting me onto his servo.

"Okay, okay, show's over, folks. I'm going out for some fresh air," I say, casting a meaningful look at Optimus. I teleport away, staring up at the staring up at the starry sky. You could always see the sky so well from here.

"Why did you choose to come here?" Optimus asks.

"It's always been a safe place for me, and that's where they were going when I rescued them," I say.

"You from this dimension," Optimus clarifies.

"Yeah. I got out of the cage and teleported to where I could remember most, which was her house. They were fleeing when I got there, the 'Cons already there. I got them just before the 'Cons were going to nab them. Explained who I was. Took them here. Went to Sioux Falls, got spotted by a 'Con, evacuated the streets via spreading the word, got some kids out, took them here, got more kids, got some soldiers, got some supplies, and well, basically that's what I've been doing for the past three days," I say.

"Three days?" Optimus asks, surprised.

"Yeah, I think that's how many days it's been… Might have been more. Maybe a week?" I say, honestly not sure.

"Amazing. You set up this entire operation in less than a week. But, that is not what I wanted to discuss with you. You should have come to the base the moment that you escaped," he scolds.

"How was I supposed to know that it was safe to go there?" I demand. "I've been forced to watch the invasion for a YEAR. How was I supposed to know that you guys were even still around?" I growl.

"You were forced to…" he asks, trailing off.

"Yes. I was trapped in a fucking CAGE for a year, chained up with limited movement, not that there was anywhere to move TO, and watch people die, be rounded up like cattle, and basically suffer. I only got out because I got mad and I was TIRED of seeing all the shit that was going on, and I made the happy discovery that kick the screen would send out an electrical charge that disabled the chains and made it so I could teleport without bringing the entire freaking ship with me. The entire time I was watching, I never once saw you guys helping out. So don't even start lecturing me on not saying hi. I've been busy actually DOING something to help," I snarl.

Optimus looks down at me sadly. "I am sorry. We have not been as… public… about our work to take down the Decepticons. I must admit… When your brothers began to be publically seen, so broken and… lost, we thought the same had happened to you as well. Or that you were dead. But we never saw you, so we could never be sure."

I look at the stars again, wiping furiously at my optics to hide the evidence that I was crying again.

"Why are you doing this? Why did you not hide and stay away from the world, kept yourself safe?" he asks, lifting me onto his servo.

I look up at him, then at the stars. "Because I could never deal with the guilt. I couldn't deal with just sitting down and doing nothing when I knew people, men, women, kids, were getting hurt and torn apart. I know what it feels like to be confused as to why your family is being torn apart and I know what it feels like to feel like maybe it's your fault because of it. Well, this time, I'm not a little kid who's scared to stand up for herself against her abusive step-mother. I'm going to do my best to make sure that these kids get back to their families, and if I can't do that, I going to be damn sure to let them know that they aren't going to have to go through this on their own," I say.

"You should know that yourself. You know that we are here to help, correct?" he asks.

"Yeah, I know. Now, judging by the sky, I need to say goodnight to mini-me, and my mini-me's sisters, and my mini-me's cousins, and a couple of other little kids who are having trouble going to sleep without their parents," I say.

"Be careful not to become too attached to them, Caity. If they-" he began before I cut him off, looking sadly up at him.

"Don't worry about it. I don't get attached to things. I learned not to. Everyone will turn their backs on you," I say before teleporting away, placing a grin on my face at the number of kids waiting for me to return. I say goodnight to them, rounding them up and making sure that they all were sleeping before allowing my tiredness to show once more. I sink to the ground near the entrance of the door, slipping into a dreamless sleep, wondering what the 'Bots were doing, gathering and talking.


	18. From Another's Eyes

_**See? What did I tell you? Another chapter! You might even get ANOTHER one, if I get reviews. Or if I'm bored. Which ever happens first. Enjoy Chapter 18!**_

If you wanted to know, this is what they were doing, not that I heard this conversation, because I was asleep.

"She's pushin' herself too hard," Jazz says, worriedly looking over at the changed sparkling.

"She blames herself," Ratchet says.

"Yes, but the kids love her. I think that she has a soft spot for them," Ironhide says.

"That is why she's working so hard," Optimus says.

"Right, you talked with her. What did she say?" Jazz asks.

"That she didn't come to us when she first escaped because she didn't know that we were still here," he says gravely.

"She said something about watching the invasion happen, but I nevah saw her around when Luke, Kain, and Michael were around," Jazz said.

"No, she said that she was forced to watch from a cage, and that she was in a cage, chained," Optimus said.

"For a year? Her brothers have been out for months. She's had to watch them act like puppets, obeying Megatron like dogs," Jazz said.

"She has a big spark and a stubborn streak. She doesn't take orders sitting down," Ironhide says.

"She doesn't take orders at all," Ratchet says.

"No. But I believe that is why her spirit isn't broken," Ironhide says.

"I'm not entirely sure her soul was whole to start with," Optimus says, looking at the child who had grown up quickly in the past year, even more so than she had already been forced to. He gently lifted her onto his servo, growling when Ratchet repositioned her sleeping form. "You are going to wake her," he warned.

"No, I'm not. When she does sleep, she does not wake easily. Jazz spent a half hour attempting to wake her when Caitlin first woke this morning," Ratchet says dismissively.

"That is good, saying as she doesn't sleep as much as she should," Optimus says.

"She's been suffering from chronic energon starvation for a year," Ratchet says. "I had to explain why she had to drink energon to her."

"How did you find this out?" Optimus asked. They had neglected to tell him about her being shot.

"She uh… Ratchet will explain-" Jazz began.

"Hide can do the honors," Ratchet butted in.

"You are a bunch of cowards," Ironhide growled. "Luke shot her," he said plainly.

"Then Kain tasered with a Cybertronian grade taser," Jazz adds.

"She was right. She and her brothers are having a bit of a disagreement," Ratchet says.

Optimus waits five seconds so he doesn't explode at them. "You allowed her to go out after being shot, only for her to be shot again?" he asks calmly.

"Uh, yeah, basically. We were defenceless against it!" Ratchet said, sharing the memory.

* * *

><p>"<em>CAITY!" an alarmed, young voice shouts. Ratchet looks up from his discreet examination of the young child, noting the lack of body, but plenty of muscle.<em>

"_Hey sweetie," a pained voice replied. Ratchet zeroes in on the bleeding of her side, and how she is wisely putting pressure on the wound to prevent too much energon from spilling._

"_What happened? Are you… are you bleeding?" Caitlin asks, looking more worried about it than Caity herself._

"_Yeah. I got shot," she says, keeping her voice even and calming the younger version of herself down._

"_By who?"_

"_An old friend of mine, by the name of Luke, though now he's called Subject 1," she says, sounding like she's making a strong attempt not to snap at the young girl. "You annoying Ratchet?"_

"_NO! I'm answering questions," she says. Ratchet watches as Caity stiffens suspiciously, her expression suddenly very guarded._

"_What questions?" she demands. She glares at Ratchet, who glares back at her, wondering why his questions had set her off.._

"_He's only asked two. He asked if I had been sick lately, and what I do for fun," she says._

"_Oh. Okay then. Wait, what did you tell him?" she says, sounding suspicious again._

"_Um the truth? I like to play with Shelby and ride my bike and go to the park and to read and to jump on the trampoline and to cuddle with Libby and watch movies and-" Ratchet almost cuts the girl off, but Caity does it before he can._

"_Got it. You like being a kid for fun," she says._

"_What about you? What do you do for fun?" Ratchet asks. He had yet to see her display one of her more childish tendencies that she had displayed when they first met._

"_I hide away from crazy wrench wielding medics that are nosy," she says sarcastically. Ratchet is only slightly offended._

"_Be nice," Caitlin scolds childishly. Ratchet doesn't expect Caity to listen, but she does._

"_Fine. I haven't done anything fun in about a year, other than to cause trouble for the Decepticons," she says overly bluntly, sounding like she really didn't want to be having this conversation._

"_See, I was right. She doesn't act like a kid anymore," Jazz comments._

"_If you hadn't noticed, there is a war going on. Also, can someone please stop worrying about my lack of childishness and please stop my side from bleeding. I'm getting the low energon warning again," she snaps, and she's right, it is a more pressing matter._

"_Again?" Ratchet asks, alarmed._

"_Yeah… first time I got attacked by a shark, and the second time I ruined Megsey's desk by throwing a tantrum, basically destroy all the skin I had left at the time. Both times I blacked out from loss of energon…" she says sheepishly._

_::A shark?:: Jazz asks over the comm._

_::Ruined Megatron's desk?:: Ironhide adds._

"_Give me your arm," Ratchet growls, switching the beings so that he held Caity in his servo instead of Caitlin. He scans her and carefully presses a hidden switch in her arm, opening a data port that he could use to read her energon levels. He does, not all that surprised at the low levels that they have been slowly lowering for the past year._

"_He only gave you just enough energon that you would not have the warning flashing, but it's so little that I am surprised that you are still conscious," he growls._

"_Cool. Now, I know that that is important, but I still am bleeding. So, yeah," she says, looking up nervously at Ironhide's servo._

"_Do you want to hold my hand and squeeze it if it hurts?" Caitlin asks, getting dangerously close to the edge of the Ironhide's servo._

"_Uh, ugh, please don't stand so close to the edge," she asks, her voice an octave higher than it normally was, and she had her face twisted in a grimace of worry. Ratchet knew that Ironhide would never let her fall, but it was endearing to hear her worry about the younger being._

_She looks down over the edge, her eyes widening and actually going closer to the edge. Ironhide is about to gently push her back when Caity speaks up with surprising sharpness._

"_Caitlin," she says. Then she seems to debate on what she is going to do, instead holding out her arm in invitation. Ironhide gets the hint and sets the child next to the older version, where the young girl promptly grabs hold of Caity's hand, looking more scared than Caity did. Ratchet repairs the wound, noting how hard Caitlin is gripping Caity's hand while Caity seems to be trying her best to not close her fists._

"_Oh my gosh, did that hurt?" Caitlin asks, looking like she was about to cry when Ratchet finishes. That almost send the bots into a panic, but Caity handles it with ease._

"_You are crushing my hand," she says. They all know that it would take much more than a young girl's fear driven grip to even dent it slightly. She's lying just as easily as she had to Optimus._

"_Oops, sorry," she says. Caity chuckles, but she doesn't tell the younger that she had been lying. It was endearing to see her going out of her way to ensure that the younger wouldn't worry about her. Though, it was also a little depressing to know that someone so young was thinking about such things._

"_It's okay. You good? See, I'm fine… ish," she says, adding the last word after Ratchet pokes her head scoldingly._

* * *

><p>"I fail to see how that is a good enough reason to allow her to leave," Optimus growls, but he knows that he probably would have let her go as well.<p>

"Shut up," came a sleepy mutter, Caity not fully waking, but just enough to hear them speaking.

"I thought you said that she wouldn't wake?" Optimus growls.

"She didn't. She did that a lot with Jazz as well. It is more of a warning for those who are attempting to wake her," Ratchet says.

Optimus frowns but doesn't comment.

"Boss bot… What do we do when one of her brothers end up killing her? Don't they have a set protocol to eliminate the threat and revive the one killed?" Jazz asks quietly.

"We hope that it does not come to that. It is the best we can do. Until then, we ensure that she is as healed as possible before allowing her to go out on more raids and when she gets injured again, we heal her," Optimus says. "We must keep her safe. It is no coincidence that she is the only one still herself. Primus has a plan."

"Primus can go rot in the pit, now shut up, Prime," Caity growls, shocking the bots into full silence. They are silent for the remainder of the night, shifting to their alt-modes, Caity sleeping in Optimus's cab, and recharging lightly themselves.

* * *

><p>Optimus awoke to a tentative knocking on his door, and he sent out his holoform to greet the young girl.<p>

"Is Caity up?" the younger version of the human Caity asks.

"No, little one. She is still sleeping. You should be as well," he says, sitting on the ground and patting the spot next to him.

"I woke up. Now I can't go back to sleep," she tells him, joining him in the indicated spot.

"Why is that?" he asks.

"My brain keeps going too fast for me to sleep," she informs him seriously.

"I see. That must be the reason why Caity has trouble sleeping as well," Optimus said.

"Well, one of the girls said that Caity had a bad dream yesterday. Maybe that's one of the reasons why she doesn't sleep. I know that I can't sleep very good if I see something scary," she admits.

Optimus finds her openness perplexing. Even though Caity talked a lot, she never truly talked about herself and her own problems, more so talking vaguely about things she happened to be thinking about at the time or about something that was so completely random it didn't make sense to anyone but her.

"What scary things have you seen?" he asks.

"Well, Mom and my Daddy fighting is pretty scary. Some of the tv shows are scary. My sisters crying is scary," Caitlin says, thinking about it hard.

"You miss your parents?" Optimus asks.

"I miss my Daddy. He doesn't yell like Mom. He's awesome, when he's home," she replies, again thinking about this hard.

"Ah. So, is it safe to assume that Caity would miss her father as well?" he asks.

"No. I don't know what happened, but she is… cold? I think that's the right word. She doesn't care anymore," Caitlin says.

"Maybe that's because she's scared," Optimus says after a moment.

"I don't think she even notices. It's like when Ellie is mad. Ellie doesn't normally notice until we start fighting," Caitlin says.

"You get into a lot of fights with your sisters?" he asks.

"Yeah. I don't try very hard, because I don't want to hurt them, but sometimes I get really mad and I do end up hurting them, and that makes me sad," Caitlin informs him. "I normally end up hurting Shelby most because she's not very good at fighting. But I normally let her win."

"Why do you fight?" Optimus asks.

Caitlin shrugs after a long time. "It brings us closer afterwards," she says. "Most of the time. Why is Megatron taking over our planet?"

"Because when Megatron landed here, he got trapped in the ice of the arctic circle. Some humans found him and they did some very mean things to him. He's very angry about it," Optimus explained.

"That wasn't very nice of them, but that doesn't mean that he should throw such a big tantrum about it. He's hurting nice people who just… just… just want to live as nice people. I think that Caity used to be really nice, but… but now she's… she's…" she says, her hands moving with her words and grasping as she tried to think of the right word. "She's broken. Not like her soul, but… her love is broke," she says, though she still doesn't seem satisfied with the words she had used.

"How can you break love?" Optimus asks.

"You can't break your love, but someone else can break it for you. It's really hard to do, but I know that it can happen," she says.

"How?"

"My birth mom used to love me. Then she didn't. She broke my love for her," she says gravely.

Optimus pondered her answer. The honest answers of the young always amazed him. They held wisdom that they didn't even intend them to have.

"I see. Why did you want to see Caity?"

"Oh… uh… um… oh yeah! There was a lot of noise going on outside. I was going to tell her that. I think that someone is up there," she said.


	19. Captured Again

_**Here you go, another chappie today. Thank you for the reviews and please continue making them! I love reading what you have to say!**_

Which, of course, was when they hurriedly woke me up and asked me nicely to go check for scary monsters. Caitlin's words.

"So much for resting today," I grumble, teleporting, whoops, Ratchet was going to be mad at me for that, outside. I teleport quickly back, biting my tongue to keep from cursing in frustration. No good news waited for us above. None whatsoever. I was just grateful that the soldiers had concealed the entrance very well. We just had to hope that they weren't looking for something underground.

"What's wrong?" Caitlin asks.

"'Cons. What else is new?" I growl.

"They… they're here?" a little girl asks somewhere to my left.

"Yeah. Don't panic. I need everyone to be as quiet as possible and to go as far away from the door as they can. Make sure the youngest kids are furthest away, okay? Can you guys do that for me? Spread the word to the older kids, too," I say. I take off into the air, circling around the bunker. I wondered if we should start evacuating. Though, where we would go was the question.

"Kid! Why is everyone moving to the back?" Wallows asks as I land next to him.

"Decepticons are searching the property. I want them as far away from the door as possible, keep them away from a battle if it comes to that. Stay as quiet as possible," I say.

He nods, moving to tell the others. I allow my hearing to stretch as far as it can go. I can hear soft, almost unhearable whimpers from the other side of the bunker, some kids must be crying. Soon it cuts off, though, and I give a silent sigh of relief. I fly over the bunker again, finding that there is virtually no noise. Only the noise of my wings cutting through the air and the sound of movement above us. Soon, though, even that stops. Then, after a very long time, the noise of movement starts up again. I swoop down to land on Ratchet's shoulder silently.

He looks at me, and I shake my head, putting a finger to my lips and pointing above us. He nods. He already knew. Of course he did.

I think two days pass before Optimus announces that it is safe to move around again, I all but collapse in relief. I hadn't even realized how scared I had been of us being discovered. I hadn't even realized that my time in Decepticon control had affected me so badly.

"I'm going up to see what damage they did," I say. I teleport up, zipping to the side as a taser shoots out. Like lightning, I pull the headphones over my ears, deafening myself as I look for the being who shot me. I spin and see Luke aiming at me steadily. I zip away again as another shot comes from behind me. I spin, spotting Kain behind me. I barely dodge two more shots, these coming from my left, where Michael is. I take the headphones off, knowing that no one else was here.

"Stand down, Subject 4. We don't need this to end violently," Kain says. I teleport behind him, kicking out before he can defend himself.

"My name is Caity and if you want me, come and get me. See you in the Arctic," I growl. I teleport, finding myself in a frozen wasteland. I teleport again, finding myself in a surprisingly warm cavern that has been frozen over. But I know where I am. Megatron's landing sight. I shiver, and it's not from the ice surrounding me.

It takes me an hour to realize that my wings are covered in frost. I move them, wincing at the protesting noise they make, but soon they are warm enough to melt the ice forming on them and keep me pretty warm as well. It takes another hour for me to hear cracking ice. I nonchalantly lean against one of the icy walls, moving my wings slightly to keep them from freezing.

Five seconds later, there is a cry of alarm and I step to the side as a body shoots past me, followed by two more. I almost wince when they slam into the far wall, Luke, I mean, Subject 1, nearly falling off the edge and into a dark, really big hole.

"Wow. Do you guys, just, I don't know, forget how to teleport?" I sneer.

"Teleporting is forbidden, which you would know if you had not run away," Subject 1 replies.

"Uh, yeah, I prefer being able to teleport. It means that I can get out of here. You guys have to dig your way out. Have fun," I say.

"Wait," Subject 1 orders. I pause, turning and looking at him curiously.

"What?"

"How did you escape?" he asks.

"I threw a tantrum," I reply. "Anything else you want to say?"

"He won't let you go. He's going to come back for you, and you won't be able to escape again," Subject 3 says.

"When that happens, I'll deal with it," I say.

"No, you don't understand… He is really mad. He's not going to take the slow way of breaking you like he did us. He plans on you being so broken that you won't even twitch without his permission," Subject 2 says.

"Why are you telling me this? Aren't you his attack dogs now?" I demand.

"We are under orders to obey without hesitation and to never defy him. That doesn't mean that we want to do it. Free will is a lie. But he never said that we couldn't warn you of what is coming. He just ordered us to ask how you escaped," Subject 1 said. "Oh, and to shoot you again," he adds, aiming one quick taser at me, which hits, though I manage to ignore the pain for one last comeback.

"Stay safe, then. By the way, now we are even for you shooting me," I say, teleporting back to the bunker and convulsing against the electricity.

"WHAT HAPPENED? You've been gone for hours!" Ratchet growls. I don't answer, instead pulling out the needle and disconnecting the source of power, stopping the electrocution.

""I took a trip to the Arctic. We don't have to worry about the other subjects for a while. They are sort of trapped there," I say.

Ratchet stares at me for a moment before apparently deciding that he really doesn't want to know. I don't blame him.

"You do realize that you are only increasing Megatron's anger towards you, correct?" he finally asks.

"Eh. I burn that bridge when I cross it. Or ignore it," I say.

"That isn't a very good idea," he warns, checking me over for anything more serious than being painfully electrocuted.

"Well, I'm going out again. Have fun," I say before teleporting to the next facility on the list. It takes me three trips to get all the kids out, and it was on the third trip that I ran into trouble. I had to get them from right underneath Megatron's optics.

I had rounded up the last kid, and looked up to see Megatron storm into the room and freeze at the sight of me. I tugged on the headphones, gave him a one fingered salute and teleported the kids, feeling the walls shake around me as he roared angrily.

I don't even tell the kids what to do, I just shakily remove the headphones and let down my holoform. I curl up, my wings acting like a protective wall against the world.

"Don't bug her, Caitlin. She's upset," I hear a voice say. I don my holoform and pull my wings down, peaking at the worried looking Caitlin. I hold my wing out more, and she runs over, hugging me. I hug her back, clutching her close. Not enough to hurt her, but enough for it to be an actual hug.

"What happened?" she asks.

"You know how you feel when you go on the ferris wheel?" I ask shakily after a moment.

"Like I can't move and I'm really scared?" she asks.

"That happened."

"But… there aren't any ferris wheels…" she says in confusion.

"No. But there is Megatron, who is very mad at me," I say.

"He was there? What did you do?" she asks, looking me over to see if I'm bleeding anywhere.

"Saw him, flipped him off, got the kids out. Had a panic attack," I say.

"Panic… attack? But he didn't attack you…" she says in confusion.

"Yeah. But some people are really scary, just like ferris wheels," I say.

"Oh. Are you going out again? You shouldn't if you are having a panic attack," she says.

"Yeah, I need something to get my mind off everything," I say, getting up.

"But… what if you see him again?" she asks, worried.

"You worry about not causing trouble. I'll worry about this, okay?" I ask.

"But-" she begins.

"Caitlin, I said don't worry about it," I snap, running my servos over my helm in frustration.

"I was only trying to help-" she begins to say.

"I don't need your help," I snap.

She glares at me, and I realize that I may have taken it too far. "You are going to get yourself killed if you keep pushing people away! Until you learn to actually LET PEOPLE HELP YOU, I officially HATE you," she spits, before spinning and storming away.

I flinch back as though she had physically harmed me.

"You're going to be hating me for a very long time then," I whisper before teleporting away to the next facility. I get through three more facilities before I call it quits for the day. I can't focus and I also am too proud to tell Caitlin how hurt I was that she said that she hates me.

"Thank you, angel!" a little kids says. I force a smile on my face and nod, but as soon as they turn, I let it fall.

"Caity, why are you… sad?" Optimus asks.

"Caitlin hates me," I say bluntly, scuffing the floor.

"Why?" he asks.

I groan, sitting on the floor. "I was getting over a panic attack and she was trying to help, and I snapped at her. Told me that until I learned to let people help me that she was going to hate me," I say.

"Why were you having a panic attack?"

"First facility I went to today, it took me three trips. On the last trip, Megatron got there right as I was about to teleport the kids out. I was fine until I got back here and I had a panic attack," I say.

"Ah. She attempted to comfort you when you were distressed. You snapped at her and she snapped back. But why does it matter if she says that she hates you?"

"Because there is only one person I hate, especially at her age," I say.

"Your femme creator," he says. "Biological mother," he adds at the look of confusion I give him.

"Yeah. Hey, thanks for that. You are almost as good as Bonnie," I tell him.

"Bonnie?"

"Yup. Counsellor, psychiatrist, take your pick. Favorite one. Pity I can't go see her because I am pretty sure she would love to hear about this," I say.

Optimus shakes his helm. "I'm not sure if that is a compliment or an insult."

"Compliment," I say. "Now, I need to go apologize to Caitlin," I add.

I fly over to her, landing behind her and awkwardly standing until she notices me. She walks over to me and puts her hands on her hips and glares at me expectantly.

"I-I. I'm sorry for snapping at you. I was stressed and I shouldn't have taken it out on you. Just wanted to say that, I'll leave you alone now," I say, turning away from her. I am surprised when I suddenly find my waist in a vise-like grip as she hugs me.

"I forgive you. And I don't hate you. I was just mad, too. So I am sorry for saying that," she says. I sigh in relief. "Want to play?" she asks.

"Play…?" I ask, not understanding what she was getting at.

"Yeah, you know, like hide and seek? I'm It and I need help because I'm slower than the other kids," she says.

"I don't think that it's very fair of me to play hide and seek. I can hear and see a lot better than all of you combined. Sorry," I say awkwardly.

"Oh… right… what about tag?" she asks.

"I'm too fast and I can fly," I remind.

"Hmm… but, you never have any fun. You can't just do nothing for fun!" she protests. "Oh, do-" she begins, but I cut her off.

"Sweetie, I think I'm a bit too old to play your games. I'm almost seventeen," I say.

"Really? That old?" she asks in disbelief.

"Yeah. Sixteen and seven months. It's really confusing because I can't use this calendar, because it was September in my dimension when I came here," I tell her. "I was fifteen and seven months then," I say.

"Can you drive?" she asks.

"... I CAN drive. As in, I know HOW to. I just… I had only driven a couple of times before, and I had just passed my written test. I was supposed to start driving in October," I say.

"So… you can't drive," she deduces.

"Basically," I say. "Not like there's any reason for it anymore. Now, go play. People are going to fall asleep if you don't find them soon."

She runs off, going in the opposite direction of where I knew a kid was hiding. I smile, my mood lifted once more. It was good for her to be a kid while she could. I sure wish I had taken that time to be a kid.

"Ya do realize that ya are still a kid, right? Ya should go out and have fun," Jazz says from behind me.

"I can't. Megatron obviously knows that the bunker is somewhere around here-" I say.

"Probably from the All Spark energy coating the area for four miles around," he butts in. I pause.

"What? Am I radioactive or something?" I ask, worriedly looking around at the kids.

"Yes, but so are we. It's not enough ta harm them, but when ya teleport, it leaves a big energy signature. It's pretty dimmed down because of the bunker, else it would have been a bigger area, but it's still there. That's probably how they're getting to the facilities you're at, the sudden energy spike," he says.

"Do you know how I could… not leave radiation?" I ask.

He grins at me. "Yeah, ya just have ta-" he doesn't finish because the bunker suddenly shakes as something explodes.

"HIDE! YOU SLAGGING GLITCH!" Ratchet growls. I sigh in relief. Until Ironhide replies.

"That wasn't me, Hatchet," he replies quietly.

"I think they've found the bunker," I say.

Jazz gives me a no duh look and I teleport outside, about a mile away from the bunker. I stare in horror at the sheer number of Decepticons that were surrounding the Farm. I watch from a distance as the farmhouse burns to the ground.

"Grandma Linda's gonna kill me!" I say, clamping my hands on the back of my head to keep from destroying something. I hear noise behind me and pin in mid-air, glaring at the tyrant who had just landed.

"No where to run now," he growls.

"YOU BASTARD! YOU SLAGGING GLITCH PROCCESSORED, PIT SPAWNED WASTE OF METAL! There was no reason to destroy that house! It was completely unnecessary thing to do, not to mention it cost them thousands of dollars in property damage! No one was in there, which they obviously would have KNOWN having scanned the building, so it really was pointless!" I rant. That place had been my safe haven when I was growing up, in this dimension as well, and now it was gone!

"It is just a house, not even a very well constructed one if it fell so quickly," he scoffs, aiming a cannon steadily at me. I'm not blinded enough by anger yet to think that I would be able to teleport before he shot.

"JUST A HOUSE? That was ANYTHING than just a HOUSE!" I shout. I hear more explosions behind me, but I don't turn to look.

"Now there truly is not anywhere for you to run to. Your little hideout has been destroyed," a sneering voice behind me sneers. I forget about the fact that there is a cannon pointed at me and attack Starscream, taking out his other optic and ruining a lot of his face and putting a lot of damage on his wings. I pull back when he collapses in pain, holding his helm to stop the bleeding.

"You can go rot in hell, Dorito," I spit. Glyphs helpfully give me options of weapons I have in my arsenal that could kill him, but I shake myself out of my rage induced haze, staring at the energon on my servos in horror.

During the time that I was distracted by my horror with myself, Megatron had stepped closer and roughly snatched me out of the air and I heard more than felt one of my wings be crushed in his grip.

"See what power you can hold if you let go of such pathetic weaknesses, they only hold back your potential," he purrs happily. Like my outburst had been a good thing, not something that was horrible and wrong and never should have happened.

I don't answer him. I can't. I almost killed another being, and not out of self defence. The worst part was, if I hadn't broken out of my haze, I would have killed him without a second thought. I can hear screaming, gunfire, cannon fire, and I know that there are people dying. But I was too busy, stuck in my own processor as it replayed the same thirty seconds over again. I was stuck. Helplessly, hopelessly stuck. Once I realized that, I began feeling the effects of a panic attack, though even that was numbed. It was like I was having a nightmare, only I wasn't waking up.

I noticed when the loud noises ceased to reach my ears. I still was stuck, but I was starting to fight against it. No way was I going to keep dwelling on what my anger had caused me to do. If I did, I would keep remembering other screw ups in my life that I had done and I couldn't stand to do that another time. Other glyphs started to flit across my vision, errors, apparently. I had glitched, my processor not being able to comprehend what had just happened. I decided to nicely explain it. You almost killed a living thing out of anger. They are not dead. Stop panicking. You are fine.

More glyphs raced across my vision, blocking out the replaying memory and finally freeing myself from where I was stuck. Looking past the glyphs, I could see darkness, and switching to infrared told me where I was. Back in the cage. I could see the long cracks in one wall, where I had kicked it, but at least the chains were gone. No knowing why, but I knew that I wouldn't be able to teleport anytime soon.

I move my arms, feeling them move stiffly, and I realize that the energon is still there, now dried and feeling worse than blood. I freeze, trying to hold off another panic attack, and only partially succeed because I still shake slightly. Next, I try to spread my wings, feeling on move fine, but the other refusing to go more than halfway out without bringing me blaring pain and error glyphs. Okay, no moving that. I stand, walking around the length of the cage, making sure that I still COULD walk. I rub my neck, which feels stiff as well, roughly only to sharply pull my hand away as I receive a mild shock to my hand. I don my holoform, making it easier to feel whatever it is on my neck. Gently, I run my fingers over it. It is just small enough that I can't slip it over my head, but loose enough that I don't notice it unless I'm looking for it. It's not a collar, not really, too loose for that. More of a necklace.

I run my fingers along the edge, stopping on the pendant, feeling the glyph and frowning. I don't know this glyph. My processor doesn't have any glyphs that I don't know in it, so I can't translate it, either. Looks like I'm going to have to translate the individual glyphs inside the larger glyph.

I hack into the broken screen. It takes me a while, because, well, I've never hacked anything before and so I was learning as I went. But, I did get the thing to turn on, connecting it to my processor. I wince, looking at how cluttered it was. Another while later, I had hacked it enough that it would mimic my hand movements, essentially becoming one of those cool holoscreens that you always saw in TV, though I can't remember if they had that in this dimension yet, or if they would.

I clear the clutter, bringing up the glyph I had felt out. I realize that it was reversed, so I flip it, still unable to read it. I zoom it in, looking at each glyph. I sit on the ground and rest my chin on my hands, trying to figure it out.

Okay, I know what you're thinking. Is she an idiot? Why would she try to decipher some stupid glyph when she should be trying to escape? Well, I couldn't teleport, which I found out about five minutes after the first time I gave up trying to figure out what the glyph said, so it probably came from the necklace, and I was trying not to think about all the false hope I had crushed by rescuing those kids and failing to protect them. I didn't want to think about the fact that they probably had been killed, that mini-me was dead, or Ellie, or Kayla, or Shelby, or Collin, or Keegan, or Erin. I didn't want to think of the fact that I may have been the cause of their deaths.

So I stared at the glyph that refused to be deciphered. I had to keep pushing things away when my mind began to wander, and there were a couple of random glyphs of weapons that I could use to destroy the screen entirely if I wanted to, but I would only pull them out and examine them before subspacing them again and going back to the glyph.

I end up dissecting the glyphs even more, so that each word that made up the meaning of the glyph was just able to be translated into letters. I finally manage to get through the first sub-glyph, though it doesn't do me a lot of good. It means one. I've determined that it is a name of some sort, but I don't know what it is. Of course, before you think that it is my name, it probably is, but neither Caitlin nor Caity can be translated into Cybertronian. They also don't have names like us, they have glyphs and the glyphs describe who they are.

So, I was left with one. I think it might have taken me hours to do it, too, because for names, the glyphs aren't the same as they would be for regular words. Which is why it took me so long. Anyways, I spend another couple of hours figuring out the rest of the glyph, and glaring at it for causing me so much trouble.

One who is pure in soul and loves all life. That is what took me so long to actually figure out. I almost am offended at it. It is literally the combined meaning of my first name and my middle name, or one way you could do it. Caitlin, meaning pure and clean, normally referring to a soul, and, oh, have I not told you my middle name yet? It's Rose. In the language of flowers, many of the meanings have to do with love. Though, it could also be One who is pure in soul and brings unity. But I decided that it was probably love, because while I don't necessarily love all life, I don't prompt unity very much, either. Saying as only Luke knew my middle name out of the guys, I'm guessing that it was a gift-ish from him. The pendant, not the whole necklace.

"Really? It's, like, ten words. Ten. How can ten words take so long to decipher? Stupid name glyphs," I grumble. I'm tempted to attempt to take it off, just to be mean, but I decide against it, because it probably took him a while to figure out how to write my name in Cybertronian. I thought about the guys.

"Huh, funny. Michael means either humble, or who is like god? Or he who is closest to god. Which is confusing enough, but if we go with humble, if you add it to the meaning of Kain, it is humble warrior, and if you add me and Luke's meaning of our names, which, for Luke is light, it's humble warrior of pure light. Or God-like warrior of pure light. Isn't that a cool coincidence?" As I think to myself, various websites are pulled up with the meaning of each of our name's origins. "Oh, hey, that's cool. How did I even do that?" I think excitedly, my optics brightening as I search through my processor, bringing up a memory of a song. Not any song in particular, just the last song I had listened to, over a year ago.

"Hey! Music! Maybe the world hasn't gone completely to hell!" I exclaim out loud, grinning as the music fills the cage. I don't think Megatron expected me to be able to do this, otherwise I never would have been able to do this, I don't think. "It's not a bad song, either. Can't remember if I liked it or not before we got sent here… Probably not."

You wanna know the weirdest thing about this? I wasn't actually talking during most of that. Those were my thoughts being played through the screen. Cool, right?

I listen to the music, trying to remember the name of the song, even though I KNEW the name of it. Then I do. And I cut it off savagely. "No. I am never ever ever ever ever again listening to this song! NO! This is not a cool song. Not in this universe! Nope!" I say. But then I rewind the song and begin playing it again. What can I say? I like the song.

"What I've done, by Linkin Park. Also plays at the end credits of Transformers in my dimension. Why is this the last song that I listened to? I must have been on Pandora. Hmm. Might as well let it play…"

_In this farewell_

_There's no blood_

_There's no alibi_

'_Cause I've drawn regret_

_From the truth_

_Of a thousand lies_

_So let mercy come_

_And wash away_

_What I've done_

_I'll face myself_

_To cross out what I've become_

_Erase myself_

_And let go of what I've done_

_Put to rest_

_What you thought of me_

_While I clean this slate_

_With the hands of uncertainty_

_So let mercy come_

_And wash away_

_What I've done_

_I'll face myself_

_To cross out what I've become_

_Erase myself_

_And let go of what I've done_

_For what I've done_

_I start again_

_And whatever pain may come_

_Today this ends_

_I'm forgiving what I've done!_

_I'll face myself_

_To cross out what I've become_

_Erase myself_

_And let go of what I've done_

_What I've done_

_Forgiving what I've done_

I sigh, searching through my memories for another song. This time, I was searching for a specific song, one that I had loved when things like this had been mere fiction and it still sort of applied. Gives You Hell, by All American Rejects.

_I wake up every evening_

_With a big smile on my face_

_And it never feels out of place_

_And you're still probably working_

_At a nine to five pace_

_I wonder how bad that tastes_

_When you see my face _

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Now where's your picket fence love_

_And where's that shiny car_

_And did it ever get you far_

_You never seemed so tense love_

_I've never seen you fall so hard_

_Do you know where you are_

_And truth be told I miss you_

_And truth be told I'm lying_

_When you see my face _

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well_

_Then he's a fool you're just as well_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself_

_Where'd it all go wrong?_

_But the list goes on and on_

_And truth be told I miss you_

_And truth be told I'm lying_

_When you see my face _

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well_

_Then he's a fool, you're just as well_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Now you'll never see_

_What you've done to me_

_You can take back your memories_

_They're no good to me_

_And here's all your lies_

_You can't look me in the eyes_

_With the sad, sad look_

_That you wear so well_

_When you see my face _

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well_

_Then he's a fool you're just as well_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you see my face _

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you walk my way_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you hear this song and you sing along but you never tell_

_Then you're the fool, I'm just as well_

_Hope it gives you hell_

_When you hear this song _

_I hope that it will give you hell_

_You can sing along _

_I hope that it puts you through hell_

I see a flicker of a familiar scene of a familiar movie that I now despise. I shut it down, the room's sudden blackness startling me, but I was holding my head, trying to force it away. That had been a bad idea. Bad bad bad memories. Very bad.

I lie against the wall, trying to force my wing to straighten, managing it through extreme pain, but I held it until it healed correctly. They were useless if I couldn't use them. I feel whatever it was that had brushing against my mind do so again, leaving a wisp of worry behind. I don't know why, but this time I reached out towards it, assuring it that I was fine. It responded after a moment, sending out a feeling of disbelief and then pushing forward my barely restrained fear. I physically flinch back, pushing it back into the straining confines of my mind.

I force my servos to stop shaking, clenching and unclenching them. This was not a good place to have a panic attack. Actually, it was one of the worse places. I had no doubt that I was not going to be left to plan my escape for another year, because now I did know that there was an escape.

I bet that I probably had decreased the time I had alone to lock down my emotions and to get some semblance of control by messing around with the screen. Should have thought about that sooner.

I force my mind away from those thoughts as well. No use wasting time thinking of the could be's. I send a feeling of hurt shock to whoever was brushing against my mind. That had been a mean thing to do. But, people weren't often very nice, at least not in this universe. I think back to the bunker, trying to remember every little innocent face that might very well be dead. I wonder what had happened after I glitched. At the same time, I wished that I had my older sisters from my dimension here.


	20. Meet the Sisters

_**Heeeeeeeere ya go, lovelies! Another chapter! PLEASE REVIEW! But, well, if not, just enjoy chapter 20!**_

This is what happened, if you were wondering.

"Are they all out of the base?" Optimus asked, firing yet another shot at yet another Decepticon, who fell, just like all the others who had gone against the Autobot Leader.

"Yes, Optimus, but Megatron-" Ironhide began to say, again.

"I know. I saw it happen," Optimus snapped.

"She almost killed Starscream," Ironhide said.

"She did. But she stopped herself," Optimus said.

"Why? He is an enemy! Why would she not kill him? It is not logical," Ironhide protested, shooting a 'Con that was getting too close for his tastes.

"She does not see the world in black and white, 'Hide. We will have this discussion later, when we AREN'T fighting off Decepticons," Optimus growled.

"Decepticons, retreat! We have what we came for," Megatron growled, taking off. Soon the area was clear of Decepticons, and once again safe for the children and soldiers to move about.

"Clear. Tell them it's safe," Ironhide told Lennox, who nodded and descended into the secondary bunker, buried deep below the first one, and off to the side about a mile. Almost impenetrable. They spent a few hours repairing any damage that had been done, as well as calming down the children, who were distressed that their angel was gone. That night was a long one for the soldiers.

"Now are we going to discuss what just happened?" Ratchet asked the next day, keeping his voice low so the humans wouldn't hear him.

"What would you like to discuss about it?" Optimus asked, venting heavily.

"How about how she nearly killed the Decepticon Second in Command without any trouble, then pulled back and glitched?" Ironhide asked sarcastically.

"She pulled back because she is not a killer," Optimus said.

"She killed Frenzy," Ratchet reminded.

"It was self defense, Frenzy attacked them, first, according to Caity herself, Bumblebee, and Barricade," Ironhide said.

"Starscream probably verbally provoked her, and she attacked," Optimus said, going off of what he had seen. "That would have been the only way she would have attacked with a cannon aimed at her," he adds.

"Sir, there is a massive amount of All Spark energy being emitted above ground," Jazz informed him.

::It is the same as when they entered this dimension.:: Bumblebee added from across the country where he was keeping Sam, his family, and Mikaela safe.

"More from their dimension? I thought that it was erased!" Ironhide said.

"Primus must have made an exception," Optimus said.

Two hours later, three very upset, annoyed, and confused girls were glaring at the bots. Proof that Primus had sent them came from the metallic wings they now bore, though they had not gone through the pain of receiving them. They had appeared when they had.

"So… Our sister and a couple of her friends got pulled into this dimension while watching the movie because Caitlin was being a clutz? It's been a year since that happened, and this Earth is mostly under Decepticon control, besides for here, which Caitlin started when she escaped from Megatron, who is still alive because she messed up the timeline and basically caused all of this by accident, and now she's been captured again because she went into shock because she almost killed Starscream? I buy it. Sounds like something she would do," Kayla said.

"Really? You believe us?" Ironhide asked in surprise.

"That, and the guy who sent us here already explained all of this. We didn't believe him. Then you guys just confirmed his story," Ellie replied.

"So, wait, you guys let her go after Decepticons on her own?" Shelby asks.

"She was supposed to just seeing how many of them there were," Ratchet growled.

"Caitlin never does what she supposed to do!" Shelby says.

"She does too! You just have to ask her nicely," Kayla says.

"I do!" Shelby protests.

"No you don't," Kayla scoffs.

"Yes, I do!" Shelby says, getting annoyed now.

"Cool it, drama queen. Whatever," Kayla says, rolling her eyes. Shelby huffs, obviously wanting to argue but not wanting to argue with HER.

"We can see where Caity gets her argumentative personality," Jazz mutters quietly.

"Who are they?" Caitlin asks, running up to them. Close behind her came Shelby, Kayla and Ellie, all laughing until they saw the newcomers. Then they transformed into suspicious and curious creatures.

"Is that… us?" Shelby asked, bending down to herself's level. "Shelby?"

"Are you me?" little Shelby asked.

"I think so?" she replied.

"This is going to be confusing," Ellie and younger Ellie said at the same time.

"No, this is going to be fun," the Kaylas said together, grinning identical mischievous grins.

"Anyone else think that this is a bad idea?" Jazz asked his fellow bots. They all nod, watching apprehensively as the past and present sisters begin talking about everything and anything they could think of.

Caitlin sadly watched them, not having her own self to talk with, not that she would probably want to talk to her. She turned and walked away, scuffing her feet on the hard floor. She gave a quick glance to her siblings, making sure that they were too occupied to notice her slipping away, then easily wove her way through the crowd of kids. It wasn't too hard, most of them were either taller than her or shorter than her, and all were moping around, none of them having noticed the new arrivals yet, and they didn't notice her moving around, either.

Once she got to the far side of the bunker, she slumped against the wall, wishing that the attack hadn't happened.

"What are you doing, little one?" Jazz asked her, his holoform bending down to touch her shoulder.

"I'm just sitting," she replies.

"Why did ya wander off? Your sisters are worried," Jazz prompts.

"I doubt it. They're too busy talking to Caity's sisters," Caitlin replied, a tad bit bitterly.

"Ah, that's what this is about. There ain't no need to be jealous of them," Jazz said.

Caitlin gives him a look. "One, ain't isn't proper English, and two, I'm not jealous of them," she says.

"Ain't ain't a great word?" Jazz said, grinning.

"No, you should say 'Isn't ain't a great word', and even then, you shouldn't say ain't," Caitlin protested.

"Why?" Jazz asked.

"'Cause ain't ain't a word, but you can find it in the dictionary, and I ain't gonna say it no more," Caitlin said in a sing-song voice.

"Ya do realize how bad that grammar was, right?" Jazz asked.

"Yup," Caitlin says with a small grin. "Are my sisters really worried?" she asks.

"Yeah, really worried. Ya are too young and little to be running off on your own," Jazz scolded lightly.

"I'm not too young, I'm nine!" Caitlin protested.

"Compared to me, you're just a baby," Jazz scoffed.

"How old are you?" Caitlin asked.

"Old enough that when I was around when humans were fighting with sharpened sticks and stones," Jazz told her. Caitlin's eyes widened in amazement. Jazz watched in amusement as she literally bit her tongue to keep her comment from escaping her lips.

"That's cool," she finally said.

"Yeah, that's cool. Now let's get you back to your sisters," Jazz says, laughing. He held out his hand, and Caitlin easily grabbed his two forefingers, the only part of his hand that she could wrap hers around. Jazz led them through the crowd, back to the six worried girls.

"Caitlin! Where did you go?" younger Ellie asked, rushing over and hugging the smaller girl close.

"Just to the other side of the bunker," Caitlin said.

"Why didn't you tell one of us?" younger Kayla asked.

"Sorry, KK, you guys were busy," Caitlin said.

"That doesn't matter. This is a big place and there are a lot of kids here. You have to tell one of us if you want to go somewhere, so one of us can come with you, okay?" Kayla said, looking the small girl in the eyes for confirmation.

"Why would one of you guys being with me matter? Then we would BOTH be lost," Caitlin said, confused.

"It's like when you hold Dad's hand when you cross the street or are in a parking lot," Kayla said.

"Oh, so at least one of you knows I'm safe?" Caitlin asked innocently.

"Yes, now don't go wandering off again, okay?" Kayla said.

"Okay," Caitlin agrees. Kayla grins and ruffles her hair, leading to Caitlin laughing and protesting.

"Jeez Kayla. You used to be so cute, what happened to you?" older Ellie teased.

"The same thing that happened to you," Kayla replies easily. Ellie glares at her playfully, but laughs all the same.

"Did Caitlin change much?" Ellie asks the bots.

"It depends on your definition of 'change'," Optimus replies.

"She means her personality. She's normally bubbly and talkative and… and… Caitlin," older Shelby explained.

"That is not a very helpful description," Optimus says slowly.

"Well, she's… She's normally annoying on purpose but really nice and doesn't know when to stop talking, and is really playful normally, but can sometimes be responsible, and she's normally stubborn and loves to argue and she always smile, even when she's feeling sad or angry, especially when she thinks that you need cheering up," Ellie said, her eyes narrowing in concentration.

"She normally asks a lot of questions and always has a sarcastic or bluntly honest comment if you annoy her, or if she feels the need will tell you a complete lie to your face and you probably wouldn't even know," Kayla adds.

"She's really loyal and she will kick your ass if you hurt her friends, no matter how much bigger you are" Shelby says.

"She hates hurting people, but won't apologize if she thinks you deserve it," Ellie says.

"She knows more than she lets on, and likes to keep an innocent outlook on life, even though she's been through a lot," Kayla says.

"She takes a lot of things literally, and if you say something bad about her, and she considers you her friend, she'll take it really hard," Shelby says.

"She can be really arrogant, but will normally listen to what you have to say and take it into consideration," Kayla says.

"She's strong," Ellie says, just about summing everything they had just said. "She doesn't let things keep her down for very long."

"So, has her personality changed?" They all ask together.

"That's how she was when she first came here. Now, it is like she thinks that she has the weight of the world on her shoulders," Optimus said gravely.

"Yeah, that sounds like her. Her friends got hurt. She's trying to fix it as best she can. This is one of the times that she is being responsible," Ellie says, looking half proud and half exasperated.

"Can you get her to… not be?" Optimus asked.

"Yeah, can you? She's no fun," Caitlin said, pulling on the hem of Ellie's shirt with adoring eyes.

"Maybe," Ellie said gently.

"She spoke very highly about all of you," Optimus said.

"She did?" Shelby asks, surprised.

"Really?" Kayla added.

"What did she say?" Ellie asks. Optimus told them, and they looked at him in shock.

"She actually said that?" Shelby asked.

"Yes. You are surprised?"

"Well, yeah… We kind of ignored her a lot, because she was the youngest and she was annoying, well, except for Shelby, really, but after we moved, they were always fighting, and they never got along. Then when the divorce happened, well, we never got to see each other anymore, besides for Shelby," Kayla admitted sheepishly.

"Not even I did. I was always gone, at gymnastics, or work, or just hanging out with my friends, or doing homework. I kind of took advantage of how forgiving she is, too, venting on her and taking my anger out on her," Shelby said.

"That's not a very nice thing ta do to your sister," Jazz said, shaking his head, the holoform's features twisting in disapproval.

"Well, obviously, but she never said anything about it," Shelby said. "She's always been so tough and strong. I've always been the one that broke down under pressure. People pleaser, Caitlin says," Shelby said.

"Social butterfly, people pleaser, drama queen," Kayla says.

"Like you're any better," Shelby growls.

"I don't care what people think about me," Kayla says, not denying the other two.

"Would you two knock it off?" Ellie snaps. "You are eighteen, or… nineteen, technically, and you are nearly eighteen. Act your ages," she says. They all keep a straight face for about ten seconds before laughing.

"Act our age. Right. That's a good one!" Kayla says.

"We'll act our mental age," Shelby says, laughing.

"You guys are hopeless," Ellie says, shaking her head.

"We know!" Shelby said cheerfully. Then she got serious again. "Does she know that everyone here is safe?"

"No, she would not have been aware at the time," Ratchet denies.

"Of course not," Shelby says, shaking her head. "Well, looks like we have a while until she gets back here."

"How are you so sure that she will escape again?" Optimus asks.

"Because one of her many talents is getting away from the things that stress her out," Shelby replied.

"Come on, sweeties, time for bed," Kayla said, easily lifting the mostly asleep Caitlin into her arms and carrying her through the crowds, ignoring the other kids that curiously came over, shocked to see more angels.

Like little ducks, the younger versions of themselves followed, all happy to do as she had said. The older version of Ellie looked on, wringing her hands in a rare show of anxiety.

Shelby sets her hand on her sister's shoulder comfortingly. "Hey, it's okay. At least we aren't erased anymore, and she's strong. She'll be fine," Shelby says, pulling away and following after Kayla.

"But I was supposed to be there for her," Ellie says before slowly following them.

Optimus looked after them, filing the exchange away for more analysis. It appeared that Caity had received a lot of her traits from her siblings.

"Jazz, what is your analysis on them?" Optimus asked.

"There is obvious tension between them, meaning that they are stressed, probably over Caity's kidnapped status, but Shelby looks to Kayla as a superior rather than an equal as she does Ellie, meaning that there is probably more tension between the elder two over who is in charge. It is also apparent that the eldest feels guilty for not being there for her sister more and it is causing her anxiety. If what Caity told us is true, she is probably used to dealing with stress and lack of sleep, which is not healthy in the least, but it means that she can keep a cool head under pressure. Also, despite how close they all are with each other, only Shelby and Ellie show the genetic markers that Caity has, confirming what Caity said about Kayla being her step sister," Jazz replied dutifully.

"I see. What do you have to say about what Caitlin said about her sisters not realizing that she was gone?" Optimus asks.

"That what they said was true, they tend to ignore her 'cause she's younger, leaving her by herself," Jazz said. Optimus nods.

"I came to the same conclusions myself," he said. "At least there is not obvious hatred between her and her siblings, though I assume that they are not the type to talk about what they think of each other," Optimus adds.

"What do you think would have happened if she had killed Starscream?" Jazz asks.

"I do not know. But she would hate herself, if her reaction to NEARLY killing him is anything to go by."

"Well, the kids are starting to quiet down again, which means that we can finally get some sleep," Lennox says, coming up to them. He had watched the exchange from a distance, but had overheard everything. "I wonder how Caity'll react to seeing her sisters here?"

"Somebody needs ta record it when that happens," Jazz replies.

"Don't you guys record everything?" Lennox asks.

"Yes," Jazz replies, a little bit sheepish.


	21. Family Bonding Time

_**Hello, my lovelies! Here is your next chapter! Have fun with it! I had fun writing it! **_

Back to me, I was struggling to hold back my panic, to not feel my fear. The screen flickered to life for a moment, a clip of Let It Go playing before I shut it down again. "Just STAY OFF," I snap, breathing heavy, completely unnecessary gulps of air. I groan in frustration as my panic is pushed back into the front of my mind by the one on the other side of the bond. How did I know it was a bond? He told me.

"Stop it, I don't want to deal with that right now," I snap into empty air, pushing it back once more. I pace the cage like a caged animal. Bad analogy, I know.

Why are you afraid?

The question just appeared in front of my other thoughts. I clench my fists and ignore it until it is more annoying than when the low energon is flashing.

"Because I don't like the memories this place brings," I finally say out loud. I probably sound like I'm going insane. Maybe I already am insane…

You are not.

Jeez, thanks for the assurance. I am beginning to wish that they hadn't started talking to me.

Why do you not leave?

That was actually a good question. I had to have been in here for a couple days, so maybe I was going to be stuck on my own. Not that I wasn't used to that by now. But how was I supposed to get out? I mean, surely it wouldn't have the same weakness as before… right?

There is an easy way to find out.

I turn on the screen and kick it as hard as I can. I actually stumble back a bit from the electrical charge that shorts out the necklace and sends it tumbling to the ground. I stare at it stupidly. "Really?"

I teleport back into the bunker, expecting to find it in ruins and deserted and instead finding it full of the kids, who are sleeping soundly. I blink, shaking my head as though that would make the scene change. Wait… the 'Cons retreated? Megatron didn't get the kids?

I take to the air, wincing at the slight twinge in my wing, but managing to get high above the ground without waking anyone. I land lightly on Optimus' alt-mode, noting how he didn't react, so he was either recharging or he was awake and just trying not to wake anyone else up.

I shrug, sitting down. I'm not particularly tired at the moment, so I would just wait until people began waking.

* * *

><p>It's only a few hours until Optimus jolts slightly in surprise, and a I gently pat the top of his alt-mode in greeting. He must have woken the other bots, because their headlights flash briefly at me. I wave, smiling tiredly. Now I was beginning to get tired, but my pent up stress and lingering panic that was still prodding against the walls that I had set up wasn't going to allow me to sleep for a while.<p>

A few more hours later, the first of the kids, mostly the younger ones, began waking, waking up the other kids and soon the soldiers as well, until the whole base was awake. I lightly land on the ground and yawn as Optimus and the others quickly transform.

"Hey. What did I miss?" I ask, donning my holoform.

"Your sisters from your dimension are here," Ratchet said tactlessly. I stare up at him. Then I grin.

"They are? Where are they?" I ask excitedly.

"With your younger self," Ratchet replied. I take it off, zipping over the crowd in search of my siblings. I heard delighted calls and saw kids and soldiers alike pointing at me and smiling to their friends, but I ignore it in favor of almost dive bombing my siblings.

"Caitlin!" Ellie shouts, pulling me into the biggest hug I think I have ever received in my life.

"You guys are here. You guys are really here. Wait, you guys are here. How did you guys get here?" I ask. "You guys shouldn't be here! You could get killed!"

Ellie doesn't release me, just keeps holding me, and I think I hear her crying. I hesitantly hug her back, my arms still stiff from the dried energon. She sobs. Yup, crying. "Hey, it's okay. I'm here, I'm not dead or kidnapped or enslaved or anything. You guys are okay, too, right? No attacks while I was gone, right?" I say, pushing back my own tears.

"Would you shut up for a minute with the saving the world shit and just be the little kid that we lost a year ago?" Kayla snaps, pulling me from Ellie and into her own hug.

"I missed you too," I say quietly, my tears finally escaping. "But I'm doing this because I couldn't take losing you guys again. Okay? I would die inside. I barely stayed alive because I decided that being erased from existence would be less painful than being dead, and that I would never want you guys to be here in my screw up, which now you are, so… I am so sorry," I finally say, clinging to Kayla.

"Sorry? Why are you sorry?" Kayla asks gently.

"I wished for you guys to be here. I was scared and I made a stupid wish and now you guys are here and now you guys could die or be captured by Megatron or, or, or," I say, stuttering and searching for more things that could go wrong.

"Caitlin, calm down. It's okay. Just calm down," Kayla says.

"Do I get a hug, or no?" Shelby asks, pouting a little through her tears. I hug her, too, grinning.

"I missed you a lot," I tell her.

"So, we hear that you changed more than just in personality, want to show us?" Shelby asks, though she's still crying a bit. I've stopped, thankfully.

"Sure. Just, don't freak out, okay?" I say.

"Promise," they say solemnly.

"Pinkie promise?" I ask.

They nod in exasperation. I let down my holoform, grinning at the look of awe on their faces.

"That's a good look for you. It suits you," Kayla comments. I can't help it, I burst into a fit of laughter.

"Thank you. I had so much choice in it," I say in joking sarcasm.

"Oh, you poor baby," Kayla teases. I grin, having no intent to tell them how much my new look had hurt to get.

"CAITY !" a high pitched screeched bounces around my head. I turn and easily catch the little monster running up to me, hugging her as closely as I had hugged my sisters.

"Hey, Caitlin. Did you really think that I was gone forever?" I ask.

"YES!" she tells me seriously, little tears coming from her eyes.

"Alright, I've reached my limit for tears and mushy-gushy chick flick shit," I say.

"Caitl- er, Caity, less confusing that way. Caity. Watch your mouth," Kayla snaps.

"Um, no. I am nearly seventeen years old, I have been through hell and back, and you no longer scare me," I say, setting Caitlin down.

Kayla crosses her arms. "Oh really?" she says in a tone that clearly suggests that she doesn't believe me. She fakes a lung, and I leap back, shrieking with laughter.

She takes to the air after me, much to my delight, and she chases me around for the better part of three hours, me flying just fast enough that she couldn't catch me, despite being right behind me.

Until she teleports right in front of me and I am forced to teleport myself to not crash into her. Then it turned more into a game of hide and tag, which Shelby and Ellie joined in, Kayla being It. It was the most fun I had had in ages. At one point, Optimus allowed me to hide in his cab for three hours, until the Autobot Leader snitched on me and I was forced to find a new one. Now the kids were getting into it, some on Kayla's side, some on mine.

* * *

><p>After a while, Ellie changed sides, helping Kayla search for me and Shelby while the kids either helped in searching or hiding right along with me and Shelby. I often ditched them, though, because their giggling was loud.<p>

"WHERE THE SLAG DID SHE GO?" I heard Jazz ask while I sat comfortably in his alt-mode. Jazz was a sneaky double agent, pretending to be searching for me while keeping my real location a secret.

"I have no idea," I tell him sarcastically. Jazz pulled away from fully focussing on his holoform to focus on me.

"So ya CAN act like a kid," he teased.

"So can you. Must be harder, saying as it's been longer since you were a kid," I reply.

"Hey! I found her!" Jazz calls, and I panic for a moment, until I realize that he was joking.

"That's not funny," I say. "I've already got the low energon flashing from teleporting so much today, I want this to drag out for as long as possible," I add grouchily.

"What?" Jazz snapped.

"Bye!" I say cheerfully before he can rat me out to Ratchet. The angered shout of outrage is enough to know that Jazz did as expected. I slip on the headphones that I somehow still have, using my other senses to make sure that I'm not going to be snuck up on.

My hiding spot is perfect. There is no way that they will find me. Why? Have you ever watched a person play prop hunt for Garry's Mod? Yeah, that's what I was doing with my holoform. I was really confusing Optimus because he would look over at where I was suspiciously, I would disappear when he looked away, and when he looked over again, there was nothing there, then the same thing he had been looking at would be on the opposite side of him. Then, I would disappear altogether, changing my holo to a different object and hiding in plain sight. I was annoying Kayla as well. I finally remove my headphones, needing to be able to hear if someone was sneaking up behind me.

"Got ya!" Kayla said, only to grab thin air. "Damn it, get back here, you little brat!"

"Can't catch me!" I call back childishly. Then two servos close around me, gently enough that I wasn't hurt, but close enough that I couldn't teleport away. Like when you catch a butterfly with your bare hands. "Well, you can," I mutter unhappily.

"As amusing as it is to see you act like a sparkling, neglecting energon is unhealthy," Optimus lightly scolds.

"Ah, but that's not fun," I complain.

"Neither is facing an angry Ratchet," Optimus says.

"Come on, Caitl, Caity, you have to eat… or whatever you would call that," Kayla says from outside Optimus' servos.

"Let's go with eat. It sounds more normal," I say. "Don't correct it, Optimus, just leave it be," I add.

"I wasn't going to, I was simply going to say that Ratchet is requesting your presence right now," Optimus says as he begins to carefully walk over to Ratchet. I am so dead.

"Uh… is it bad that I'm more afraid of him than I am of all the Decepticons put together?" I ask.

"No, that tends to be pretty normal," Optimus replies, chuckling.

"Oh, okay," I say. Optimus moves the servo that he has over my head but keeps his firm hold on my torso. Not going to be teleporting out of this one.

"I'm not going to teleport OR fly away," I say dejectedly.

"How do I know you are not lying?" Optimus asks.

I hold up my pinkie. "I pinkie promise, no crosses count, no crossing on the crosses," I say solemnly.

"Does that mean that you are not lying to me?" Optimus asks, confused.

"Yes, that means I am not lying to you," I say. He releases his hold and I teleport to Ratchet's shoulder, giving him an I Told You So look.

Ratchet glares at me and begins his lecture, which I diligently listen to, even though it gets boring after a while.

"Ratchet! Ratchet, I get it!" I say, cutting him off. "You are starting to repeat yourself again!"

He grumbles and places a cube of energon in my hands, which I roll my eyes and slowly drink, revelling in the exotic taste. Soon it is gone, though the energon warning is still blinking.

"Uh, Ratchet?" I say hesitantly.

"What, little one?" Ratchet asks, not looking up from the datapad he is looking at.

"Uh… what are you doing?" I ask, spotting the words Subject 1 on it. Way more interesting.

"It is Luke's last body scan. I am looking to see if it scanned his energon levels or not," Ratchet says. I scan it rapidly.

"Right there," I say, teleporting down and pointing to where it said it.

"Yes. It appears as though you were the only one that Megatron was starving," Ratchet said with disapproval. "Now, what were you actually going to say?"

"Oh, yeah. Um… the low energon glyph is still blinking, may I have some more energon, please?" I ask sheepishly. Ratchet chuckles and hands over another cube of energon, which I slowly sip once more.

Once I'm finished with that, I sigh tiredly, reminded that I had not slept in days. But the thought of actually sleeping woke me up.

Why do you not sleep?

Because I'm not tired anymore, I think back, annoyed. "I think that we should set up more bases around the country, one for each of my sisters. That way, we could save more kids and spread them out," I say.

"That… is a surprisingly good idea," Ratchet says.

My siblings reluctantly agree to do it, Shelby the one fighting it the most.

"But… we've always lived together," she says sadly.

"It's not like I would never visit," I say. She gives this awful kicked puppy look. "Don't give me that look, Shelby. You can even take mini-me and mini-you with you," I say.

"Wait, I have to go, too?" Caitlin asks.

"Well, yes. Megatron knows where this base is, making it the most dangerous base here. They are going to split up the kids here amongst Ellie, Kayla, and Shelby. This base'll be completely empty of kids so that we can get more kids here. You've got to admit, this place is pretty crowded," I tell her. "Plus, you've never been away from Shelby. You would be sad and mopey," I add.

"Fine…" she says, but the obvious distaste with which she says it tells me that she doesn't support my decision.

* * *

><p>It takes another day for everything to be prepared, in which I did not sleep at all, and we had the kids and soldiers divided up mostly evenly amongst Ellie, Kayla, and Shelby. Wallows and his unit would be staying here, along with the Autobots, in case Megatron came back and launched a second attack. The locations had already been scouted out, and bunkers had been mostly set up. I was doing my best to make sure that they all had enough supplies for the number of kids they would be housing. Soon enough, though, the South Dakota Bunker was all but empty, noises echoing loudly around. I slump against a box that was taller than I was, wondering if this would ever get easier. Probably not.<p>

"Hey, kid, everything is done. All the kids made it to the other bases and there were no attacks," Wallows tells me. I smile grimly.

"That's great. It's a small start, but at least it IS a start," I say.

"A start? This is more of an entire movement of rebellion, not a start," Wallows scoffs. "Making the first bunker was a start."

"If you say so. There's still an entire planet under 'Con tyranny," I say.

"Don't worry about that right now. Just worry about this little area of the globe," Wallows says wisely. I nod and sigh. I realize that I still have yet to wash off the energon that is still coating my arms.

"Well, I need to go ask Ratchet a question. Nice talking to you. You should probably get some sleep while you can," I tell him.

"You should take your own advice," Wallows says, but I pretend not to hear him, taking off in search of Ratchet.

"Ratchet!" I say, landing near him. He looks up at me curiously.

"Yes, little one?"

"How do you wash energon off?" I ask. Ratchet pauses at the question. "I tried water earlier, and it didn't work," I add hesitantly.

"No, it wouldn't have," Ratchet says. "You need a specialized cleaning solution to get it off," he tells me. "Now that you mention it, you need a bath, you are filthy."

I don't like baths. Not unless there are lots and lots of bubbles. I never have, I never will. So, to say that I did not enjoy my bath is an understatement. But at least I got clean. That, and I had an excuse to hide under a giant blanket that had been left behind.

"Where did she go?" I heard someone ask as I dozed, cocooned in the blanket, and quite happy with my position. Of course, they couldn't see me, I had the blanket over my head to block out the light.

"She's under that blanket," someone else said. I probably could have figured out who said it, but that would require thinking, and that would wake me up, which I didn't want to do.

"Caity," someone said, poking me.

"Hmm?" I mumble.

"Wake up," they said.

"Uh uh," I complain, burying deeper into the blanket cocoon. I allow the blanket to be moved from my head, and I glare at Ironhide. "What?" I whine.

"You are going to get the blanket caught in your gears," he warns.

"I don't care, it's warm and soft, and it's not trying to wake me up," I grumble, pulling the blanket back over my head. It is gently pulled back again. "What?" I snap again, waking up more this time.

"We have a gift for you," Ironhide says. I perk up the slightest bit.

"One that can't wait until after I've slept?"

"Well, it's more for your own protection, and if the base were attacked while you were asleep, and you didn't have it, it would be troublesome, because you would be much less protected," Ironhide says.

I try to think of what the heck he could possibly be talking about, but my tired processor draws a blank. I untangle myself from the blanket and lazily teleport to Ironhide's shoulder. "You aren't going to fly?"

"Nope. I'm too tired," I say, yawning. A new glyph is flashing across my vision, and I struggle to read it. "I even have a recharge warning flashing right now," I add.

"When was the last time you recharged?" Ironhide asks.

"Um… when I got woken up about there being Con's up above the bunker?" I say.

"That was well over a week ago!" Ironhide scolds.

"I know," I say. "I haven't been able to sleep, though. Too scared of nightmares," I say.

It turned out that my present was specially made armor. It had to be specially made because they normally didn't let ones so young fight, therefore, they had no need for armor so small. Ratchet helped attach it, making sure that the measurements were correct.

The armor wasn't anything fancy, just plain, polished silver colored, and very strong, which was good, because I was prone to getting myself hurt in battles. The cool part was when, after everything was attached, the glyphs from my arms and back , and even the few on my helm, ones that I swore hadn't been there yesterday, etched themselves into the armor, glowing soft blue for a moment before fading back into the polished silver.

I yawn again, I guess it was my processor's way of coping with my exhaustion, pulling it from my memories and associating it with tiredness. "Can I sleep now?" I whine after thanking them.

"Yes, bratling, you can sleep," Ratchet says, exasperated.

"I am not a brat," I snap. I get a look. "Okay, that's a lie, I know, but you don't need to point it out," I grumble. I teleport back to the blanket and cocoon myself once more, nearly falling asleep once more before I hear a crash and I snap back into hyper focus, my exhaustion replaced by curiosity, a lot of annoyance, and a small bit of fear.

I look up to see a large hole in the ceiling and fire on the ground, and I groan. A bot made planetfall, and they landed right at the bunker. Either they had impeccable aim, or they had incredible luck. Or lack of it, depending on which side of the war they were on. Judging by the warm greeting they received from the bots, they were on the Autobot side of the war. Which means that I could yell at them for ruining my bunker.


	22. Y U NO LET ME SLEEEEEEEEP

_**Hello, lovelies! Poor Caity, she just wants to sleep... Well, find out how her day goes in chapter... *looks at chapter number, blinks, and scratches head in surprise* wow... Chapter 22. This is the longest story that I've posted... You know, I should probably start updating some of my other stories...**_

I teleport grumpily over to them. "Did you REALLY just put an enormous hole in the roof of my bunker?" I growl.

"He had no way of knowing that the bunker was here," Optimus said.

"What did she say?" they ask in Cybertronian.

"I said that you just put a giant hole in my bunker!" I growl in Cybertronian, crossing my arms. They look up.

"I apologize, little one. I did not realize that the coordinates I received were so… exact," he tells me, but this time it is in English. I examine his paint job for a moment.

"Prowl, right?" I guess.

"That is correct. Who are you?" Prowl asks.

"Caity. Former human, from a different dimension. Don't wake me up and don't put anymore holes in my bunker until after I've gotten some sleep, please," I tell him, teleporting back over to my blanket and snuggling back into its warm folds. I was almost asleep when a loud knocking echoes around the bunker. "For the love of…" I growl, teleporting outside and ruining my day even more as I find that it is downpouring. But the being that is about to knock on the door again does brighten my mood a fair bit. I grab his arm and teleport us both inside, right as Ironhide opens the door suspiciously. We appear right behind him and Barricade hesitantly taps the confused Ironhide on the shoulder.

"Oh, Caity answered it," Ironhide says. "You should be sleeping, little one," he adds to me.

"I've been trying. People keep waking me up," I grumble. "Hi, 'Cade. Prowl's here," I say. Then I teleport back to my blanket and burrow under its folds, trying to block out the noise. I even go so far as slipping the headphones on, but the vibrations on the floor from the bots moving is keeping me awake. I sigh, keeping a firm hold on my blankets and teleporting to a rafter, which, luckily, is really wide. I find myself still able to fall asleep, little tremors waking me back up. The little tremors lead to fear of the base being attacked, which reawakens my fear of nightmares. I tug off the headphones dejectedly.

"Sparkling, what are you doing up there?" Prowl asks, spotting me.

"I was trying to find a comfortable place to sleep. You guys moving around is making the base shake, and it's putting me on edge," I say, yawning again.

"Caity! Get down from there!" Optimus orders. I sigh and lazily sour down, using my wings to slow my descent. I land on Optimus' servo, yawning for the hundredth time.

"Stop worrying, I'm in one piece, aren't I?" I ask sarcastically.

"You are, but the fact that your judgement has been impaired enough for you not to realize how dangerous those rafters are is worrisome," Optimus says.

"I know how dangerous they are. I just don't think that they are any better than sleeping on the ground," I say. "I mean, at least the rafters aren't shaking as much," I say.

"Why are you not asleep yet? An hour ago, you could barely stay awake," Optimus says.

"Because you guys kept waking me up, and now the base is shaking from-" I freeze at the sound of rumbling close overhead. Thunder. It was just thunder. Unfortunately, I have never been a fan of thunder, so, my old fear of it, combined with my fear of the engine like noise was awful. "Now I'm never going to sleep," I say miserably.

"You are frightened by the thunder?" Optimus asks, surprised.

"Well, I've always reminded me of when my parents argued because of the loudness of it, but now it sounds like a jet engine or something, which I am scared of now…" I say sheepishly.

"That is understandable, given Megatron's alt-form is a Cybertronian jet, but there is nothing to fear in this storm," Optimus soothes.

"How do you know?" I ask.

"Because Megatron hates getting wet," Optimus tells me with a chuckle.

"We should go to the rainforest, then," I mutter, curling up in the blankets once more. I was getting tired again. "Why doesn't Megatron like getting wet?" I ask curiously.

"Rust is very uncomfortable," Optimus says. I stare at the Leader of the Autobots, remembering how before the war, Optimus and Megatron had been close brothers, and the leaders of their race.

"Plus, I suppose that ice hasn't helped him any," I add. I don't even realize that I've fallen asleep until the nightmare strikes, and with that, I wake up with a choked sob. It took me a minute to convince myself that it wasn't real, that my dreams were a figment of my imagination and nothing more. Then I fall back to sleep, not seeing the worried looks the bots were giving each other.

When I woke up, late afternoon of the next day, I had completely forgotten about the nightmare, having deleted my memory of it. Not. I had just casted it behind the wall that held my fears back and hoped that it would hold. Luckily, those fears weren't fighting against the wall as much as they had the day before.

"Hey, you guys fixed the hole already!" I say. I teleport up to it, examining the thin scar that was left behind. "Good job."

I listen carefully, hearing the faint sound of rain, but no thunder was heard. Meaning that it was safe to go out. I teleport out into the storm, because that is what you get in South Dakota, it's either a rain that lasts for twenty minutes, a thunderstorm that lasts for hours, or a mix of the two. This is the mix, a beautiful sight of the rain cascading down in sheets, and the wind blowing it gently, but none of the thunder or lightning.

I sit under part of the destroyed house, the only dry spot for miles around. I love rain. I love lightning. The only thing that I didn't like was the thunder.

_Why do you like the rain?_

I think about that. I liked it because it was cleansing. The big storms, while destructive, always left the air feeling clean and fresh. Kind of like arguing with one of my sisters.

_You should go back inside. The storm is about to worsen._

I glance back up at the sky curiously. Thunder suddenly rumbled overhead, accompanied by lightning just moments before another clap of thunder. I am fast to teleport away, shaking the few drops of water that had landed on me off.

"Where were you?" Prowl asks.

"Outside," I say. "I was watching the rain."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted to?" I say, not understanding why it was such a big deal. It's not like it had ever been before the guys had attac- oh, crap, I had forgotten about the guys. "I'll be right back. Be ready to dethaw some people. Or shoot someone…" I say.

"Wait, what-" Prowl began, but I was gone, to the Arctic, where I see the guys sulking, unfrozen, but still stuck.

"Uh… it's been a few days… Why are you guys not frozen or out of here yet?" I ask.

"Caity!" they say, looking up.

"Uh, hi… are you going to answer my question?"

"You killed us!" Subject two says happily. I stare at him in confusion.

"You don't look dead to me," I say. "And you seem pretty happy about it, if you did…"

"Caity, you don't get it! Dying is like hitting the factory reset button on your phone. Everything gets reset, so there are no orders that we have to follow. You basically made it so Megatron's orders never happened," Kain says.

"So… you guys aren't out to kill me?" I ask.

"We weren't out to kill you, we were trying to make it so you couldn't keep raiding the facilities," Michael said.

I take hesitant step towards Luke. "How do I know you aren't lying?"

Luke pokes me in the side, tickling me with a grin. "Come on, Caity-cat, don't you trust me?"

I laugh, surprised that I'm ticklish still. "I do, to an extent. You guys want to go to base?" I ask. Then I pause. "Wait, if you guys are off of Megatron's influence, why haven't you teleported away from here?" I ask.

They look at each other like they were stupid. Then Luke teleports out of the cavern and back into it. "We are idiots," he declares.

"Yes, you are. Now, come on, I bet that Prowl is wondering what the heck I was talking about when I said get ready to dethaw people," I say. I teleport away, seeing the guys teleport next to me not even a moment later.

"Where are all the kids?" Luke asks.

"We moved them to the other bases," I say vaguely. "By the way, I wished my sisters into existence somehow. We now have three new allies."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Luke said in understanding. He had siblings as well.

"Why are you sorry?" Kain asks. He's an only child.

"Because why would you want someone you care about in this hell?" Michael snaps.

"Imagine your mom being here, Kain," Luke adds gently.

"Oh. Oh, that's awful! Can you imagine that?" Kain says, adopting a joking tone, "Oh, sweetie! You got hurt! Let me fix that! No, you can't go out and kill Megatron, sweetheart, he's ten times your size! Kain, tell Caity that she's going to get herself killed if she keeps shooting Megatron in the face," he says, and we all laugh, though it's a little forced.

"HEY! I'm back!" I shout, alerting the bots. "I brought friends who just realized how stupid they were being!"

We find ourselves at cannon point, from all directions. "Holy shit, what the hell, put those things away before you kill someone!" Luke snaps, raising his hands in surrender. "How the hell does FRIENDS translate to aim at the moment you see them?"

"Luke?" Ironhide asks in surprise.

"No, it's Dracula," Luke snaps sarcastically.

"It's definitely Luke," Ironhide says, lowering his cannon. At least he sounds relieved.

"I told y-" I begin to say.

"Caity, you should not have-" Optimus began.

"Save it, Prime, I don't regret what I did," I say, cutting him off.

"Is it just me, or is she more irritable when she's around them?" Jazz asks.

"I'm not irritable, well, I'm not more so, I'm tired and I'm not going to actually listen to his lecture, so why let him waste his time? He has more important things to do. We, meanwhile, need to discuss if we are going to have the same arrangement as we have with my sisters or not," I say.

"You are allowing sparklings to fight?" Prowl asked, his tone implying that he was going to protest if the answer was yes.

"Deal with it, we're former humans, and we're nearly seventeen. Nearly adults, human-wise, though technically we aren't human anymore. Anyways. We can take care of ourselves, as long as these guys don't lose their fighting spirits again and have to die again to get them back," I say.

"So, can I start a base in Oklahoma? I would still be living there and I want to help out my home state as much as possible," Luke asks hesitantly.

"I'd forgotten that," I say. "I don't see a problem with that. Kayla's in Texas, so if you need any help, she could help out without being too far from her base. Shelby's in California, obviously because she's always wanted to live there. Ellie's in Connecticut, because she and her boyfriend had been going to move there so she could continue with college… Do you have a preference, Kain?"

"Um, Colorado? There's a lot of people in that Facility, and the shorter trip will use less energy," Kain says.

I nod. "Michael?"

"Dude, I'll get Florida. Make it out in the Everglades," he says.

"Watch out for alligators," I say dryly. He looks worried for a moment before shrugging it off. "And make the base hurricane proof," I add. He nods.

A knocking on the door distracts us from our conversation. Two identical looking mechs walk in, then another two, though much shorter than the last pair of twins. Three more followed after them, femmes by the look of their frames. Behind them, hesitant, was a queer looking bot that I recognized. Finally, after that, came a familiar yellow and black mech, in alt-form, with the not human looking Sam and the very human Mikaela. They had a somber air about them, and I had to wonder what had happened to his parents.

They held the door open for a while, then it closed on its own.

"Mirage, we would appreciate it if you weren't cloaked in here," I say, turning back to the guys. Then I turned back in shock as I felt a strong scan run over me. "That was not very nice," I say. "That was actually a little painful," I add, shaking my helm and going back to the guys once more.

"Okay, so you guys got your states, we just have to get more exact locations and build them, and you'll be set. We can probably get my sist-" I stop talking as yet another harsh scan runs over me. I spin angrily, only to find a mech I had never seen before right behind me. I teleport back about ten feet, surprised. "One, stop scanning me. Two, make some noise when you move, and three, don't stand behind me like that. Okay?"

The mech, who I am assuming is Mirage, glares at me disdainfully. "Do not order me around, bratling," he sneers.

"Wow, and people call me arrogant and aloof," I say coldly. "How about you get off your high horse, princess."

Mirage bristled angrily at my comment. It took me a moment to realize that I had been speaking Cybertronian like he was. I hadn't started out speaking Cybertronian. Maybe that's why he was bristling. "By the way, I liked him better in the movie. He was Italian and funny," I say to the guys. I just now recognized him.

"What are you talking about, bratling?" Mirage growls. I humph and turn pointedly away from him.

"You are both being childish," Optimus says.

"He started it," I reply, teleporting to the other side of the bunker and sitting up on a rafter, one leg lazily swinging beneath me.

I tug on my headphones, blocking out the noise and closing my eyes, playing music loudly through my processor.

A tap on my shoulder gets me to sigh and take off the headphones and look curiously at Luke.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"I'm listening to music in my processor. Pretty fun," I say.

"What song?" he asks.

"Forever and Always by Parachute. I don't know why, I just am. I still hate you for making me listen to the song," I say. He begins to hum it with a grin before singing slightly off key the lyrics.

"She's sitting at the table, the hours get later

He was supposed to be here

She's sure he would have called

She waits a little longer, there's no one in the driveway

No one's said they've seen him

Why, is something wrong?

She looks back to the window

Suddenly the phone rings

A voice says something's happened

That she should come right now

Her mind goes to December

She thinks of when he asked her

He bent down on his knees first

And he said

I want you forever, forever and always

Through the good and the bad and the ugly

We'll grow old together

Forever and always

She pulls up to the entrance

She walks right to the front desk

They lead her down a million halls, a maze that's never ending

They talk about what happened but she can barely hear them

She tries to keep a straight face as she walks into the room

She sits by his bedside, holds his hand too tight

They talk about the kids they're gonna have and the good life

The house on the hillside, where they would stay

Stay there forever, forever and always

Through the good and the bad and the ugly

We'll grow old together, and always remember

Whether rich or for poor or for better

We'll still love each other, forever and always

Then she gets an idea and calls in the nurses

Brings up the chaplain and he says a couple verses

She borrows some rings from the couple next door

Everybody's laughing as the tears fall on the floor

She looks into his eyes, and she says

I want you forever, forever and always

Through the good and the bad and the ugly

We'll grow old together, and always remember

Whether happy or sad or whatever

We'll still love each other, forever and always

Forever and always, forever and always

She finishes the vows but the beeps are getting too slow

His voice is almost too low

As he says, I love you forever, forever and always

Please just remember even if I'm not there

I'll always love you, forever and always," he sings, grinning the whole time as my face saddens. When he finishes, I glare and mock punch him.

"That was mean. That is an awful song and you are an awful person for trying to get me to cry," I pout.

"Well, is it out of your head now?" he asks, way too cheerful.

"Yes. Now shoo, I would like to listen to it in peace, and your off key singing is ruining my hearing," I tease.

"What? Off key? That was right on the dot. Pitch perfect," Luke protested.

"Lesbian-est," I say with a grin.

Luke laughed. "Man, I never thought that I would WANT to watch that movie so much," he said with a laugh.

"Well, if we had a computer, then we could," I say.

"How?" he asks.

"Hack it. I did it with the screen in the cage," I say, not looking at him.

"Wait, Megatron caught you again?"

"After I nearly killed Starscream," I say.

"He doesn't like you," Luke warns.

"The feeling's mutual," I reply dryly.

"No, I mean REALLY doesn't like you, like, if he could, he would experiment on you, he doesn't like you," Luke insists. I wave him off.

"He'd have to be able to see me to do that, and now he can't," I say.

"Want to go steal a computer?" Luke asks. So that is what we do, taking one from the out of service Walmart. The Decepticons had taken the town. Fun.

"It's so big and bulky," I complain, looking at it critically.

"I know," Luke says, a similar expression on his face.

"What is that?" Kain asks.

"A laptop from 2007," I say with distaste. "This thing is freaking ancient!"

"What are you guys doing?" Michael asks.

"We're feeling homesick. We're watching Pitch Perfect. Want to watch it with us?" I ask.

"How are we supposed to watch it without the movie?" Kain asks until he sees the screen turn blue then begin playing the movie.

"That's how," I say. We settle on the rafter, crowded around the screen, watching the movie intently.

"What are you four doing?" Sam asks from down below. I jump, nearly sending the bulky laptop to the ground.

"We're watching a movie from our dimension. Want to join us?" I ask. He looks at Mikaela and the shrug and nod.

"It's not… it's not OUR movie, is it?" Sam asks hesitantly.

"No. You probably won't ever see that," I say, teleporting down and then back up to the rafter. Then I critically look at it. "We need to find a new place to sit," I say. "Luke, Kain, help me get the Bunker in here. Michael, if anyone asks where we went, tell them that you have no idea and that you are under executive orders not to reveal classified information, such as our location."

"Am I?" Michael asks.

"Yes," Luke replies, and I can FEEL the power behind that order. It didn't take away free will, but there was still the protocol to obey Luke. We teleport to Diego Garcia, where there are still a lot of soldiers just waiting for orders.

"Want to get them? We could use their help," Kain says.

"Hey, soldier! What are your orders?" I ask.

The soldier stares at me in shock, going for his radio. "Whoa whoa, no need for that. I just asked what your orders are. We're on the Autobot's side," I say.

"Diego Garcia is under 'Con control. They'll kill me if I don't report you," the soldier said nervously. I noticed how thin he looked.

"How long has it been since you ate, soldier?" I ask.

"Supplies ran out a couple days ago. They don't want rebellion. They're starving us and leaving us stranded here," he says.


	23. Domino Effects

_**HERE YOU GO! I had fun writing this. I hope you like this pointless fluff!**_

"Well, would you like to get back into 'Bot territory?" I ask. He nods hesitantly. "Know anyone else that does?" I ask. He nods again.

"Everyone," he says.

"How many are here and still alive?" I ask.

"Fifty-two, including me, ma'am. Everyone else was killed during the take-over," he tells me.

"Do we have room for fifty-two good soldiers?" I ask Luke. He teleports away for a moment then nods.

"Yeah, we do," he says.

"Don't panic. We're going to take you to a bunker, and get everyone else in there. The walls are too thick for radio to get through, though, just so you know," I say. "Is there a 'Con here?"

He nods. "Yes, just one. There were more at the beginning, but it was pointless when we can't get off the island."

Okay, where is he?" I ask.

"He's in the old Autobot Hanger. It's the only room that we aren't allowed to go into," he says. I nod and grab his arm, taking him to the Bunker. Then I get back to the guys and we slowly grab all fifty-one other soldiers. The Bunker is getting a little crowded, but that's okay.

"That everyone?" I ask. We do a sweep of the base and find no one. Then we silently teleport into the Autobot Hanger, where I have to lock my jaw to keep from shouting in horror. Ravage is caged, and looks awful. Luke give me a look and I glare back. He gives me another look, but I don't back down. Finally, he nods shortly and I nab Ravage as well. The soldiers all greet him warmly and cheer to find him online. I do as well.

I get back to the guys and place a hologram in the cage of Ravage. You can't even tell the difference. That's not sarcastic, either. The 'Con, some big, slow looking mech with a sewer green paint job, hasn't even noticed us. In fact, it looks like he is recharging. Me and the guys teleport back to the Bunker and, with our combined effort, teleport it back to the Farm, where Optimus is waiting for us, not especially happy with us.

"Before you start lecturing, we need food and Lennox to talk to these guys, and Ratchet to look over Ravage," I say, teleporting inside the Bunker and opening the door. The soldiers slowly exit, wary until they see their allies.

"Epps?" Lennox asks. The soldier I had first talked to, wow, how had I not recognized him, raced over and pulled his brother in arms into a bearhug that Lennox gladly returned.

"Michael! I thought you had a job!" I say to Michael, who is grumpily sitting on Optimus's shoulder.

"I never said anything. I just got grounded," Michael says.

"For how long?" Luke asks.

"Until I tell him where you guys went," he replies.

"You can tell him," Luke says. Michael gladly complies.

"Why?" is all Optimus says.

"We wanted to watch a movie," Luke replies with a troublemaking grin.

"Sorry for breaking Rule One and Rule Two, Michael," I call when Michael doesn't come down.

"Yeah, sure you are," Michael grumble as he flies down to us. I grab the computer and Sam and Mikaela and we restart the movie. It last about a minute before Luke disappears and reappears with a projector, which we connect to the laptop and play on one of the blank walls.

I get poked in the side for quoting, even though the guys are doing it just as much as I am. No one complains when we sing along with the songs though. They must have realized that we would just sing louder, like we did when quoting.

"This is a pretty good movie, but I've never heard of it," Lennox says from behind us. I jump and the movie glitches before clearing once more.

I turn and stare at the crowd that was now in the Bunker, all watching the movie. Even the Autobot's holoforms were present. Of course, not all the soldiers were in here. Most were probably eating or sleeping or showering. What, did you not think that we had bathrooms in here?

"It's from our dimension," Luke replies, not looking away from the screen.

"What's it called?" Epps asks.

"Pitch Perfect," Kain replies, sounding annoyed.

"Makes sense," Lennox says.

"Would you just shut up and watch the movie already?" Michael asks.

"Are you channeling Caity?" Lennox asks, laughter lacing his words. I pause the movie, pull my processor away from the laptop, and slowly turn.

"Lennox, shut up or get out, please," I say sweetly before playing the movie again. "If you don't, I'll start playing a children's movie," I add.

"From your dimension?" Lennox asks. I nod, forcing away the images of the movie I was thinking of. We get through the rest of the movie before anyone speaks again.

"So, what's our movie like?" Lennox asks. A scene from the movie flashes for a second before I shut it down.

"No. That is off limits. We are not watching it, we are not talking about it, and especially not so when I am hacked into the laptop," I growl.

"Uh, Caity?" Luke says.

"Yes?" I ask.

"Movie's playing," Luke says. I look at the screen and listen to the intro.

"Man, that's creepy," Jazz comments. Everyone nods. I pause it. "Aw, come on, lil' lady! Just let us watch it! I want ta see how I was supposed ta die!"

"Yeah, Caity, I want to watch it, too!" Kain says. I stare in shock at him but reluctantly play them movie. I pull the headphones over my helm and glare at the screen glumly. I do pull them off halfway through the battle of Mission City, because of all the movement around the room. It turns out that they are cheering Sam on. I pause the movie, ignoring the protests.

"Would you all shut up? It didn't happen!" I say.

"Well, it did, it just ended badly," Sam says.

"Still! It's a movie! It didn't happen! By the way, Jazz, you are about to die," I add, playing the movie again. Sure enough, it cuts to a scene of Jazz fighting Megatron stupidly on his own and getting torn in half. Jazz balks at it.

"Ouch," he says.

"See why I yelled at you?" I ask. He nods. The triumphant end is depressing for me and the guys, but everyone else loves it.

I shut off the movie. "Happy? You watched the damn movie," I say.

"I'm not happy," Jazz mutters. "I died."

"Yes, and you are alive here," I say.

"I like this dimension more," he adds.

"Because you're alive?"

"Yes, but also because there's more excitement here. Just think of how boring it would be if ya had nevah come here," Jazz said.

"I could be on my last year of high school, potentially, with my boyfriend and family, living a normal life that does not include interdimensional travel, kidnapping, changing from a human teenager to a Cybertronian sparkling, kidnapping, guns, loss of free will, loss of most of my family, and younger, more naive versions of myself," I say dryly.

"I thought you said you and Brendan weren't dating," Luke said. Then he adopts a cooing, teasing voice. "Aww, they grow up so fast! Caity-cat and Brendan-oof!" he says before I sharply hit his vocal processor, making him shut up.

"I didn't tell you because we had just broken up," I reply facetiously. Luke pouted like a child, as well as Kain and Michael. "How was it any of your business, anyways," I snap.

"Well, we like to know this stuff. Why would you mention a boyfriend if you don't have one?" Luke asks, still pouting.

"You guys are awful! It doesn't matter, anyways. Everything's been erased. Drop it," I exclaim.

"Fine, fine! We're dropping it!" Luke says, backing up in surrender. I glare at the chuckling Jazz, teleporting out of the bunker and onto a nearby rafter. Wow, these guys could be so rude!

"Little one, are you alright?" a feminine voice asks. I turn to look at an unfamiliar holoform of a woman in her late twenties, early thirties, about the same age as Optimus' holo, sitting next to me on the rafter.

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. It's just a lot of people, a lot of bad memories, and the guys acting like my old personal life is the most interesting thing ever. War. The usual stuff, I guess," I say.

"I'm Elita-1. What may I call you?" she asks.

"Caity is fine. That's what everyone else calls me," I say, holding out my hand for her to shake. She looks at in confusion. "You are supposed to shake it. It's a human greeting, a sign of respect, normally," I say.

"Caity. We do not have a name like that on Cybertron," she says.

"Well, we don't have names like Optimus, Elita-1, or Ironhide, either," I say. "My full name is Caitlin Rose, which means Pure Love, or Pure Unity. Most humans have two names, and then a family name. We normally just go by the first name, though some people go by their middle names. When I was younger, one of my grandparents always used to call me Rosie. I don't remember this, but that didn't bother me until now," I say sadly. "I wish I had gone to visit her more often, now," I say.

"Why do you have two names? Is one not enough?" she asks.

"Too many humans. There wouldn't be enough names to go around," I say, shrugging.

"That is saddening," Elita-1 says.

"Yeah. But it certainly lets you know when you're in trouble with your parents, or your parental figures," I say.

"Why?"

"Because when they say your full name, or even your first and middle name, you are in trouble and they are getting your attention," I say.

"I am assuming this has happened to you before?" Elita-1 said.

"Uh, yeah. I get into a lot of trouble," I say. "I did a search on the internet. There are nine people in the US with my first and last name. It would be weirder if one of them had the same middle name as I do."

"Did you know that you ramble when you speak?" she asks.

"Yes, actually, I did," I say, looking at her. "It's a… force of habit, I guess. My mind likes to switch topics on me, and I just say whatever it switches to, and spend a long part of the conversation explaining how I got to that topic in the first place," I say, shrugging.

"I think I understand?" she says. I shake my head. She had no idea.

"I don't think you WANT to understand what goes on in my head. I have certain sections walled off," I say. "I prefer it that way, too."

"What do you think of the Autobots?" she asks me.

"They aren't perfect, but they are doing the best they can," I say immediately. "Why did you join the Autobots, Elita-1?"

"Because I could not stand by while innocents, sparklings and younglings, were hurt. Killed. Much like you, I suppose," she says.

"Yeah. Speaking of which, I have time to do a run and raid a facility," I say. I teleport to a facility and nab the kids, taking them to Ellie's base instead of mine. We didn't need kids running around while the soldiers were still recovering.

"Thanks, sweetie," my eldest sister said, hugging me and kissing the top of my helm before ushering the new kids over to the other kids, who were all getting ready for bed, though there were a few who were staying away from the group, looking resentful.

"Hey, what's up?" I ask to one. He looks up at me. He must be about twelve or thirteen.

"The other kids are jerks," he says, looking over at a group of older teens who were laughing, but their laughter was mean, and they were laughing at another teen, who looked like she wanted to be anywhere but there. I stalk right by them, making sure to bump into one of the kids and sending them nearly to the floor as I easily began talking animately to the girl, who looked at me gratefully. Then I turned to the self-proclaimed popular kids.

"What were you guys laughing about, earlier? Because my friend didn't find it very funny," I say dangerously. I had my holoform up, so I just looked like any regular teen.

"We were just talking about how she has no real friends, but apparently she managed to get one pathetic brat for a friend," the oldest girl sneered. "What? Are you like her? You get saved before the 'Cons got you, too?" she asks bitterly. I smile.

"No. I was the first to be captured. I was kept in a small, completely dark cage for a year, the only thing to do was watch the destruction and domination of the world, every single day," I say, dissolving my holo as I spoke. The girl gaped at me. "So next time you want to make assumptions about people, and then bully them for it, don't." I spin, smiling kindly to the girl. "I'll say hi next time I'm here, okay?" I ask. She nods happily. "And you guys. How about instead of putting others down, you help with the younger kids and make everyone's job as easy as possible, okay?" I ask sternly. They nod mutely.

I walk calmly over to the boy. "You should go talk to that girl. She could use a friend," I say. I repeat my message to all the outcasted kids, who happily go over to talk, though there were a couple who were reluctant to do so at first.

"Bye, El!" I say, hugging her close once more.

"Bye, Cait," she says.

I teleport back to base, which is winding down for the night. I grab my blanket and head into the Bunker, curling up on the top bunk and falling into a blissfully dreamless sleep.

When I wake up, it's to hearing people moving around and getting started on their day. I was the last one up, unless the guys didn't sleep in the Bunker last night. I walk out, surprised that there was only a couple of soldiers up, and the guys had fallen asleep by the bots. I smile, until I see Mirage watching me. Then I drop the smile and continue on my way. I make a round trip of walking around the bunker, and on the second one I am stopped by Mirage suddenly appearing in front of me.

"I do not like you, I do not like your attitude, and I do not like your insubordinance, and what you are doing is counteracting what I have observed about you. I want to know why," Mirage says.

"We all have questions we want answered," I say, glaring. I begin to walk around him, trying to follow Ratchet's rule of no teleporting without energon, when Mirage's servo closed around me and lifted me into the air.

"But not everyone has the answers able to be given to them," he says impatiently.

"I have no answer for you. I'm doing it because I messed up the timeline by saving Jazz, by being here. I'm trying to make it so that it's not a completely hopeless place to live in. I… I'm trying to show that some people still give a damn that the human race was so easily taken over. Humans are such fragile creatures, but they can go through a lot. But this… if this continues, no humans are going to survive," I say. "Did that answer your question?"

"One of them," he said. "Why do you act the way you do? It is contradicting. One minute you are behaving like Unicron spawn and the next you act like you are Primus sent," he says.

"I naturally act like Unicron spawn. The Primus thing is a learned behavior from having a little bit of politeness ingrained into me," I say dryly. "Why do you act like an arrogant jerk who thinks he's above everyone?"

"Do you not have social casts here?" Mirage asks.

"Well, not defined by actual names, but yeah. I grew up towards the bottom," I say.

"I grew up near the top. Before the war, I was a noble. I was above everyone but the Prime and Lord Protectorate themselves, as well as the All Spark Priests," he tells me.

"I hate social politics," I say distastefully.

"I believe that had you been from Cybertron, and alive when the war started, then you would have joined the Decepticon side," Mirage sneers.

"Do you guys have child-abuse on Cybertron?" I ask, staring him straight in the optic.

"I do not know what that is," he says.

"Then, had I been born on Cybertron before the war started, I would not be who I am," I say. "Now please let me go, Mirage. Maybe you should look up things you don't know about," I add. He lets me go, and I land lightly on the ground, walking away calmly.

It's about five minutes later that I am once again stopped by Mirage. "Yes?"

"Bratling! I take back what I said about you probably being a Decepticon if-" he begins hesitantly.

"Thanks," I say, cutting him off. "I don't know if you know this, but I have a name. A designation, if you will. It's Caity," I say.

"I know your name. I just find that Bratling suits you better," he says seriously.

"Okay, Princess. Whatever you say," I growl, spinning away, annoyed.

"I have a designation as well," Mirage growls. I stop. I think. Then I smile.

"I know. But I think Princess suits you better," I snark, using his own words against him. I heard a light chuckle come from the spy, and I turned and gave him a troublemaking smirk.

I find Lennox and Wallows filling Epps in on what had gone on since Diego Garcia had been taken over. I listened in on their conversation, noting that no one had decided to mention some minor things to me, but nothing too important. I switched over to another conversation, the one Luke was having with Kain and Michael about where they wanted the new bases to be.

"I think that sounds like great places," I say. They jump, nearly spilling their small energon cubes. I knew that they were small, now, because I had just seen Optimus drinking one, and I wouldn't have even been able to see over the top of it.

"There you are," Luke said, touching my arm lightly. The other two do something similar, as though they were checking to make sure that I was real. I spot a cube of energon sitting on a nearby table that had a sticky note that said my name on it. Only, my name was spelled in Cybertronian in the same messy scrawl that the pendant had. I took it and sipped, nearly gagging and actually spitting out the liquid at the taste. It was definitely not the same kind as the stuff that Ratchet had been giving me.

"Luke, what the hell is this?" I ask. The guys snort and Luke pulls the real cube of energon out of subspace, handing it to me.

"I asked Ratchet very nicely if I could have some high grade to pull a prank on you," he said.

I stare at him for a moment. Then I snatch the actual energon from him, glaring. Then, deciding to be really mean, I pour half the high grade into his half finished cube. I do the same with Michael and Kain, who stare at me in horror, looking scandalized.

"Caity! Why would you do that! We didn't do anything!" Kain said innocently. I give him a look.

"You could have told me that Luke switched it," I retort. I finish my cube and teleport over to Ratchet. "Never, ever let Luke use high grade to prank me. That stuff is disgusting," I say. Ratchet chuckles, gently pulling me onto his servo and scanning me.

"It is not for sparklings," he says.

"No shit, sherlock," I say.

"I am not sherlock," Ratchet says, confused.

"Okay, I KNOW you guys have sarcasm. Right? You guys know what sarcasm is, right?" I say sarcastically.

"We do not have it down to such an art form as this planet does," Ratchet says, chuckling. I realize that he had been messing with me.

"I'm telling Prowl that you gave Luke high grade," I say, turning as though going to fly off.

"Do that, and I'll make sure that you cannot go on any raids for the next week," Ratchet growls.

"Do that, and I'll tell him it was for a prank," I say. Ratchet flinches back.

"What do you want, little one?" he finally asks.

"Revenge," I say. "More precisely, who gave Luke the idea, because I KNOW he didn't know what high grade was yesterday," I add, grinning cruelly.

"Sunstreaker and Sideswipe," he says, not at all loyal to the two pranksters.

"They like their paint job, right?" I ask innocently.

"Caity, I do not advise you continue on that path. They will not get even. They will bury you," Ratchet warns.

"Nah. They'd never know it was me, because you aren't going to tell them, or I'll blab to Prowl, or even Optimus," I say. The medic glares at me. I gaze back at him innocently.

He lets me go and turns a blind optic to what I grab. I do love blue paint. Now all I have to do is set up the prank and everything is ready to go.

I leave as soon as I finish setting up the prank. I'll have a legitimate alibi if anyone asks where I was when the prank goes off. I don't even return to the base until near midnight. I had raided ten facilities, which just seemed to get harder and harder to do. I sigh, carefully checking for any pranks on my way into the bunker, then locking the door behind me. If the guys want in, then they'll have to teleport. I really needed the sleep. We were making three new bases, tomorrow, after all.

I wake up to outraged shouting coming from all sides of the bunker, and I blearily teleport out, laughing at the sight I saw. Every single human and bot was covered in blue paint. Except for me. I teleport to high above, in the rafters, laughing at the chaos my handy work caused.

"Now I KNOW that you were the cause of this," Optimus said, his holo appearing next to me.

"I didn't expect it to go this far," I say. "I was just getting revenge on them for giving Luke the idea for a prank he played on me," I say innocently.

"I should tell them who is really behind this," Optimus growls.

"HEY! SUNNY! SIDES! DID YOU LIKE MY PRANK?" I call down, shouting mainly to get their attention. They turn at the same time, anger and slight admiration on their faceplates. "You guys made it better than I ever could have," I add.

Two holoforms appear next to me on either side, just as Optimus disappears. "You?" Sunny snarls.

"Me," I say.

"You messed up our paint jobs!" Sides spits.

"You gave Luke the high grade prank idea," I counter.

"Ratchet snitched?" Sunny says.

"I threatened to tell Prowl," I say. "Or Optimus."

Sunny looks at Sides. "She's clever. This could be a good thing," he says.

"We could use her," Sides agrees.

"I'm right here," I say, annoyed.

"Look at her! She's not even painted yet," Sunny complains.

"You're right. We should return the favor and give her a new paint job, then we can work together," his twin agrees.

"Oh, slagging pit, no!" I protest, teleporting to the next rafter over and glaring at them. "One, no. Two, I will never work with you if I can help it. I don't want to end up in trouble," I growl.

"You hear that, Sunny? She things that we're giving her a choice in the matter!" Sides laughs.

Sunny grins at me. "You don't agree, then we make sure that your lovely bunker of yours collapses within the hour," he says.

I look down at the Bunker. "Go ahead," I challenge. "That would make us even, after all," I add. Sunny glares at me while pulling a missile launcher from subspace and aiming it at the Bunker. When I still don't protest, he fires, hitting the Bunker dead on. When the smoke cleared, the Bunker was still standing, barely even a dent. "This should be fun to watch," I say as he stares at incredulously. "It was made to withstand nukes. Have fun," I add, teleporting far away from them. Then I teleport back and remove our handmade sign from the door, the twins not seeing me because it was on the other side.

I teleport next to Optimus, who is watching them shoot the bunker over and over again and barely making a dent.

"What are they doing and why are you no stopping them?" he asks me.

"They are attempting to destroy the Bunker and I gave them permission. I want to see how long it takes them to do it," I say. I stumble as the entire base shakes, and look over at the Bunker in alarm. I couldn't believe it. The had blasted the hinges of the door and blown it up from this inside. Clever. I folded my wings over my head to block the falling pieces of metal before they could hit me full on. Slowly I opened them back up, staring at Sunny and Sides in awe. "That. Was. Amazing," I say, a slow grin appearing on my face. Until Prowl stormed over angrily.

"What. Was. That?" he growled to the twins.

"Whoops, my bad," I say, appearing on Sideswipe's shoulder. They grin at me, realizing what I was doing. "I must have left something explosive in there by accident. Dang. I really liked that bunker, too," I pretend to pout.

"You… what?" Prowl asks, confused.

"I'll clean up the mess. No one was hurt, right?" I ask. The blue painted mech was really confused now.

"No, no one was harmed," he says hesitantly.

"Great. Hey, Sunny and Sides, do you think you could help me with the mess? It'll go faster that way," I say.

"'Course, little one," Sunny says with a grin. I teleport Prowl over to Ratchet right as he glitches.

"Uh, I don't know what happened," I tell him before teleporting back to the twins. "Now we are even," I say to them.

"I agree," Sides says. Sunny looks a little disappointed at that, but doesn't argue. We quickly clean up the mess, Optimus glaring at us as we did.

"He's going to drill a hole in the back of my helm if he keeps up his glaring," I mutter to myself.

"He's trying to understand why we aren't in the brig. Or at least in trouble," Sunny says just as quietly. I don't look back to check to see if Prime is still watching, because I know he is, but he can't hear us, that I am sure of.

"Why would you guys go after Prime?" I ask.

"That wasn't us. That was you. You see, your prank got Optimus and Ironhide instead of us, and then they got us, and in doing so, got a group of soldiers, who thought it was a different group of soldiers, and it just had a domino effect," he says. I snort in laughter before freezing.

"Wait… now Ironhide KNOWS that I was the one who pranked him," I say slowly. The twins freeze as well, twisting to look over like I had to stare at Ironhide, who was cleaning one of his cannons. At least the paint was washable. That would probably keep the mech from completely killing me.

"Hey, Caity! Are we going to build the bases or not?" Luke asks. I notice that while still blue, he is wearing armor like mine… only his is blue…

"Blue? Really, Luke? I thought you were going to go with black for sure," I tease. He grins.

"It looks better on Kain," he agrees. I take in the color and nod.

"I can see that," I say contemplatively.

"But Michael… nope. It looks awful," he says.

"I think green is more his color," I agree.

"Yep. You.. Probably red," he says. I shrug, not really caring.

"Well, let's build those bunkers before Ironhide kills me," I say. He nods and we teleport us, the necessary supplies, and everything else that we could need to build it. Of course, it wasn't standard military, stark and clean cut, it was… rebellious, just like we had planned it Luke had even somehow copied the Bunker's sign, which I was keeping in subspace, and hung it proudly on one wall. Then we moved the supplies in, that taking almost as much time as building it had. By the end of the day, though, Luke's was done. The four of us collapsed in exhaustion, just staring at our day's work.

"Mine tomorrow?" Kain asks. We nod.

We get back to my base at just after one in the morning, falling asleep almost immediately. I wake up early, though, at about five, hearing some people moving. I shook off the protests my processor was giving me as I woke up the guys. They groan and grumble, but they get up, and we quickly down the energon Ratchet kindly left out for us. Instead of drinking all of it at once, I drink about a third of it before subspacing it to drink along the day.

We got through Kain's bunker, more up to military standards, though also getting a copy of our sign, and we had Michael's built before we called it quits for the day and I down the rest of the energon. Michael insists on putting up the sign before we go, and we comply, getting back to my base even later than the night before, at about two in the morning this time.

I wake up at five again, rousing the guys so we could just finish it already. All we had to do was move the supplies over and we were done. Until Kain noticed that my base didn't have the sign. I pulled the original from subspace and hung it up in the center.

"Happy?" I ask tiredly.

"Yes," the blue mechling says.

I roll my optics and lean against the wall. "Well, don't annoy me, because now I can kick you out," I growl.

"Rude," he replies.

"Where have you four been for the past three days?" Prowl asks, coming over to us.

"Building three new bases," I reply.

"Did you not return to base at all?" Prowl asks.

"We did. At one the first day, and two the second, and, well, we've been here for about ten minutes. So, eleven today," I say. "We left at about seven in the morning the first day, after cleaning up the mess I made," I say. "Then five yesterday and today."

"You are completely done?" Prowl asks, not believing us.

"They're completely inhabitable," Luke says.

"Prowl, cease your questioning of them. It will only make you glitch again," Ratchet growls in greeting.

Prowl reluctantly backs off while Ratchet begins scanning us. "You all need more recharge. No waking up at five," he warns. We nod tiredly and settle into recharge while leaning against each other for support.


	24. Sisters Argue But This Is Verbal War

_**Here is the next chappie! Merry Christmas Eve, or, at least that is when I am posting this chapter, where I am! If you don't celebrate Christmas, than HAPPY WINTER! Or Summer... Depends on what part of the world you are in... How about Happy Birthday to you and Happy Unbirthday to you! That'll work, right? Oh, sorry, I'm rambling... ON WITH THE STORY, CHAPTER 24!**_

I woke up at five again. Despite my attempts, I couldn't return to the blissful slumber that I had just left. I wonder around the base, wondering what I could to stave off boredom. Then I heard an explosion above the base, and I was quick to check on it to ensure it wasn't an attack. It wasn't. It was just Ironhide shooting at some old junkers that still remained.

"You know, there are people trying to sleep," I say. I had forgotten that Ironhide was mad at me until he aims at me and fires, and I barely dodge. "Whoa! Hey! What the heck! Ironhide! Stop!" I say, dodging more blasts. It dawned on me that he wasn't aiming to kill, actually, he was giving me time to move out of the way, and the canon setting was lower than normal. "Slagging pit!" I yelp as I get a glancing blow that nearly knocks me out of the sky. The hit was enough to call up battle protocols that had nearly started up when I was attacking Starscream, showing me a range of weapons that I could use to permanently offline Ironhide, or just make it so he couldn't shoot me.

"If you don't stop shooting at me, Ironhide, I'm going to start shooting back, and it's not going to be from choice," I warn. He fires yet another glancing hit. I pull the smallest weapon I had, firing just off to the left of Ironhide. It hits its target, exploding the ground underneath him and making him fall to one knee. I checked the weapon I had used, shock to find the amount of damage it had caused. Not what I had been intending, but that worked as well.

"Ironhide, please stop shooting," I protest as he fires back at me. I race through my weapon's log, trying to find one that was non lethal. Then I thought about Mirage's disappearing trick. How could I do that? Whoever was on the other side of the bond showed me how I could do that, but I would need a distraction. Flash grenade should work. I fired while I dodged, hitting Ironhide square in the face-plates and blinding him. Then I disappear.

My vision shifts down so I was seeing individual particles, analyzing them to ensure that I was properly concealed. "Ironhide, I said STOP SHOOTING," I growl. Ironhide searches for me in surprise. He must have thought I had teleported. Good. That was the intention. I steadied myself in the air almost silently, my flapping nearly silent and being masked by the wind that was already blowing.

To my amazement, Ironhide subspaces his cannon, looking satisfied about something. I hesitantly fly closer, reappearing next to him. "Are you going to shoot at me again?" I ask tentatively.

"No, I am not going to shoot at you again, today, little one," Ironhide said gently, holding out a servo for me to land on. I do so, still wary of the obviously insane mech.

"Today? Do you plan on shooting at me again?" I squeak.

"Only if you need to be taught a lesson," Ironhide explained gently.

"What lesson was that?" I demand angrily.

"How to dodge and how to act on the offensive instead of always on the defensive," he says.

"Are you kidding me?" I mutter. "I had three protocols that demanded I kill you! The first shot I took would have blown you up if I had been aiming at you!"

"I trusted that you would not aim to kill," he says simply. I glower at him.

"Any reason why you thought I needed a lesson?" I demand.

"You ruined my paint job," he says.

I groan, remembering that. "I was aiming for it to hit Sunny and Sides," I say. "Not you two."

"Well, you still have to face the consequences of your actions. Think of it as another lesson. Things don't often go according to plan," Ironhide says wisely.

"I already knew that," I say. I teleport back into the base, where the soldiers were milling around nervously. Just as I had predicted, the sound of explosions had woken everyone up.

"Caity! Is everything okay?" Lennox demands.

"Yeah, cool it. Just Ironhide getting revenge for the prank I pulled on him," I growl. I realize that I have a dent in my armor and trudge off to Ratchet.

"Ironhide?" Ratchet asks. I nod mutely. "What, no sly remark?" he asks.

"Why? My plan went wrong, I have to face the repercussions of that fact," I say.

"What did Ironhide do that got you take actually learn?" Ratchet asks in mock surprise.

"He shot at me," I say. "Without warning. Multiple times. Makes you a little wary and more prone to listen. You know what else I learned?" I ask.

"What?" Ratchet asks, now only half paying attention to me as he repaired the dent.

"This," I say, pulling the disappearing trick. Ratchet jerks back in surprise at suddenly finding his patient gone. "Cool, huh?" I say.

"You have a very remarkable ability to mimic," Ratchet says.

"Really?" I ask, shocked. "I wasn't even thinking about that. I just asked how to do it to hide from Ironhide," I say.

"Asked who?" Ratchet asked.

"I don't know. I just asked. Whoever is on the other side of the bond told me," I say, shrugging. Ratchet pauses, staring at the empty space that I am occupying.

"Bond? You did not tell us that you have a bond with someone," he says.

"I didn't realize that it was such a big deal," I say, appearing once more. "Besides, I don't even know who's on the other side of the bond. I bet that had I told you, the first question you would have asked would be 'who?'," I say.

You could ask who I am.

Okay, then, fine. Who are you? I think back.

Primus.

"Oh, I know who it is now. He just told me," I say.

"Are you going to share the information with me?" Ratchet asks. I got a sense of 'yes' from Primus

"He says that his name is Primus," I say. Ratchet stares at me for a second, then collapses, making me cry out in surprise. "Ratchet!" The medic didn't get back up. "OPTIMUS!" I cry out, wringing my servos nervously. If I hadn't been so distracted, I would have noticed how I was subconsciously mimicking Ellie's nervous habit. The big mech was there in an instant, seeing the problem immediately.

"Calm down, little one, he's fine, he just glitched," Optimus says calmly. That doesn't help me calm down. I just keep wringing my servos and pacing the examination berth I was on. Optimus quickly revived Ratchet, who I suppose shared with Optimus what had happened, because he turned to me curiously. "Are you lying, little one?" he asks me curiously.

"No. Why would I lie about that. Why is it such a big deal?" I ask.

"Because Primus is our Creator. Our god. He created the first primes and he created the All Spark. He created Cybertron, even," he says gently, bending down to look me in the optics.

"Uh… I'm an atheist," I say hesitantly, ignoring the insistent tug from Primus, as if to say 'look at me! I'm right here!'

"I believe you will not keep that view for long," Ratchet says with a chuckle. Optimus nods, chuckling as well before replacing it with seriousness.

"Now, promise me that you are not lying, Caitlin," he says. I'm shocked at the use of my legal name and not my nickname.

"Pinkie swear," I say solemnly, holding out the small appendage. He chuckles and touches his own very gently to it.

Why is that vow so… precious to you? It means nothing. It does not truly bind a promise.

I straighten and bristle at that. Out. Out of my head. Now. You do NOT insult my pinkie promises. No. Out.

Primus only brushes a feeling of amusement my way. He had been teasing me. Not cool. Gods weren't supposed to tease. Gods weren't supposed to exist.

There was a quick brush of disapproval from Primus. I sigh, grudgingly accepting that he was not… not mortal. Then I remembered all the side mentions of Primus the bots had used. Maybe there really was a god in this dimension. Maybe not in mine, but there was one here.

"-lin," Optimus said worriedly, snapping my attention away from my odd conversation with Primus.

"Hmm?" I hum.

"Are you functioning properly? I called your name five times," he says.

"Primus was knocking my pinkie promises," I say. "I was telling him off for it." Optimus gives me an unreadable look. "Have the guys gone to their bases?"

"Yes, they have, as well as taking a unit of human soldiers each with them," Optimus confirms.

"What are we going to do with this base? It's too dangerous for any kids to stay here, and there are too many Cybertronians, anyway," I say.

"We could make this our main base of operations, just for Lennox and Wallow's team, and the Autobots," Ratchet suggests.

"That's not a bad idea. That way, this place'll be protected, no kids would get hurt, and if I stay here, I can teleport mechs over to the other bases if there is a fight," I say.

"It's also more room for us to move around," Jazz adds, coming up behind me. I don't jump. I don't. I just decide to hop at the precise moment he spoke.

"That's true," I say. "Now, I'm going to save some kids," I say.

"What if you encounter Megatron?" Prowl asks.

"Then I'll pull on my handy-dandy headphones, maybe shoot him if I'm not too terrified, and get me and the kids to the nearest base before returning to the Farm," I tell him, not even having to use a half percentage of my processing power to come up with the answer. Prowl looked at me for a moment as he processed my words.

"The Farm?" he asks.

"That's what this place has been called for as long as I can remember. It's always been a sanctuary to me. Of course, it had been the now destroyed farmhouse and the land surrounding it, not the base, but the name still fits, because it's still at the same place the Farm is," I explain.

"What do you mean? Are you not from a different dimension?" Prowl asks in confusion.

"Yup. But this is still the same place that has been a safe place for me, and my younger version of myself.

"Oh, there's a little you?" Elita-1 asks, coming and joining in on the conversation, sounding delighted. The other two femmes, who I had not been formally introduced to, joined as well, looking curious. "Oh, these are my sisters, Chromia and Arcee," she adds, seeing me look at them. I nod in greeting.

"Yeah, she's at my sister's, Shelby, base right now. She's with Shelby's younger version," I say.

"Why is she not here with you?" Arcee asks, sounding as though she thought me inept at something.

"She's too young to be away from Shelby. She and I… we've always been together. Shared a room, shared experiences, shared everything. I mean, as I got older, I didn't rely on her constant company as much as I used to, but Caitlin still relies on that, even though she doesn't realize it. Besides, this base is too dangerous for kids, now that Megatron knows where it is, and I would never put her in that kind of danger if I can help it," I say.

"You have sisters as well as brothers?" Chromia asks.

"The guys are my brothers because of what we went through together. My sisters are actually my sisters. I… I accidentally brought them here, all of them except my little sister, luckily," I say.

"You have a younger sister as well?" Jazz asks in surprise. I hadn't realized that he hadn't known.

"Yeah. Libby. She would be eight right now," I say. I search my processor for how to project images, then struggled to remember what my sister had looked like the last time I had seen her. A little sunburned, smiling and holding her fishing pole proudly, despite not having caught anything. I projected the image. I expanded the image to show Kayla and Shelby walking as well, looking human.

"That's the last time I saw her smiling," I said. I let the image fall. "I have the strangest urge to go to Shelby's base and check on mini-me, so I'll be right back," I say.

I teleport away, greeting Shelby with a quick hug as she passed by before finding mini-me in a full out tussle with mini-Shelby.

"Hey!" I say, pulling them apart easily. Shelby is sporting a mean bruise on her chin while mini-me has a split lip. "What is going on?"

"Caity!" they say happily.

"Caity, she said that you didn't like me because you didn't let me stay with you and you haven't come to visit yet," Caitlin says, her grey-ish hazel eyes tearing up. I snort, examining her lip and sighing, rolling my optics.

"No. I haven't visited because I was helping my brothers set up their own bases and there are more bots on Earth now, at the Farm," I say.

"Really?" she asks, interested. I frown as blood drips down from her lip. I teleport and grab a napkin before returning to her.

"Yes, really, hold still," I order. She does and I clean away the blood, sighing in exasperation as I realize that it looked worse that it was and she had probably only bitten her lip.

"Can I meet them?" she asks. I pause at that. "Please? I won't be a problem and I won't even ask to spend the night! I just… I miss you and want to hang out with you for a little while," she says.

"You are starting to remind me of Libby," I tease. She grins, thinking of her little baby sister that has yet to become a nuisance. I show her and Shelby the same image I had shown the bots, and they gasp.

"She's my age!" Caitlin says.

"Yes, she is," I say. "I'll have to ask if I can bring you to meet everyone, but I don't think it'll be a problem," I say.

"Can I come, too?" Shelby begs.

"Ask Shelby while I ask Optimus, okay?" I say. They nod and run off to the other angel. I teleport back to the Farm, where the bots are still patiently waiting.

"Is she alright?" Optimus asks when it's clear I'm not just appearing for a moment before going off again.

"She's fine, she was fighting with mini-Shelby," I say. "She and Shelby have a request," I add.

"What is their request?" Optimus asks, sounding amused.

"They want to come see the newcomers. I said that if I have your permission and if they get Shelby's, that I would," I say.

"Please, Prime? I want to meet them," Elita-1 says, delighted at the prospect. Yep. She was a mother hen, and it was showing badly.

"Yes, Prime, allow them to come. I wish to meet them as well," Mirage adds, appearing from nowhere at all.

"Yeah. They're better behaved than Caity," Ironhide says. I jump, spinning so that I am facing him instead of Optimus.

"Yes, they may come," Optimus says, amusement lacing his words.

"You shoot at them, I will shoot you with whatever the first gun had been," I warn to Ironhide.

"You are going to shoot me with a gun you don't even know the name of?" Ironhide asks.

"Yup," I say with a grin as I teleport back to Shelby's base. I am met by two excited little girls and my older sister.

"They can go. Don't let them destroy anything," she warns.

"Mini-me won't without mini-you's direction," I retort, grabbing the two girl's arms before little Shelby looks up at me.

"That's because you can't think for yourself," Shelby say meanly. I'm about to reply when little Shelby tugs on my arm, oblivious to our impending argument.

"Can Shelby come, too?" she asks.

"I'll be right back," I mutter.

"Can my sister tag along as well," I ask. Optimus nods.

"Yes, she can come," I say. My sister grins, mimicking her younger self while me and Caitlin share a look. This was going to end badly. We teleport to the Farm, me holding onto me and Shelby holding onto Shelby.

"New Autobots on Earth, this is my sister Shelby, and the younger versions of ourselves," I say, glaring at Shelby in warning.

"What happened to Caitlin and Shelby's younger self?" Ratchet asks in alarm.

"I told you that they got into a fight," I say.

"I did not expect it to be a physical fight," Ratchet explains himself.

"Shelby and I hadn't gotten to the point that we could have verbal arguments yet," I mutter. "Mostly her fault," I add.

"Oh, please. You start them more than I do!" Shelby retorts.

"Do I? Because I'm pretty sure you and your piece of shit attitude starts most of them, including this one," I growl back.

"How did I start this one?" Shelby snaps, but by her tone, I know that she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

"That snide comment about not being able to think for myself," I snap, turning away from her. I saw Optimus flinch back guiltily at that one.

"Oh, please, that's not bad enough to continue on that argument," she scoffs. Optimus flinches back for me. I stiffen before turning back to her, my face an emotionless mask.

"You can say that when you don't have your will being taken away from you," I say coldly.

Shelby glares back at me just as coldly, but she isn't emotionless. No, you can SEE her anger. You can't see mine. I don my holoform to make it more of even standing.

"There you go again, slipping a mask whenever you get scared," she sneers.

"Scared? Of you? That's the stupidest thing you've said since you got to this dimension," I retort, snorting humorlessly.

"Maybe you should separate," Jazz tries, but both Shelby and I ignore him, while Caitlin and Shelb, as I am now going to refer her as, informed him that it was best to just let us argue it out and maybe back up.

"Please. You're scared of your own damn shadow," Shelby scoffs.

"Says the one who's afraid of the dark," I sneer.

"You know why that is," she growls, her face darkening. Normally that was enough to get me to back down, but today it wasn't.

"Don't even try pulling that crap because I was there the entire time while you whined over nothing because I was ALWAYS THERE FOR YOU," I spit. "Don't even try to bring that up because it was never as bad as you try to make it out to because I was always making sure of it," I say.

Shelby is shocked into silence for about a second before she replies. "You were always there for me? Where the hell were you when Melinda and Mike were getting a divorce and they were shouting right outside my door, or right at me?" she spits.

"I was doing the exact same thing that I did every time! I was right next to you, taking the blame right along with you for all the shit they pulled! Or taking the blame for you! Who was standing right beside to you when you ruined Christmas? Who shared the blame whenever you screwed up or got caught in a lie? Me. I have been there every time you made a mess of yourself, letting you lean on me because you are such a damn child!" I say.

"I'm a child? You don't even know what goes on in the world! You hide away from everyone in your stupid books and your stupid stories that you write and you never actually socialize! You can't even get any real friends!" she growls.

I flinch back at that low blow, tears coming to my eyes but not falling. "What do you know about friends? You trash talk every single one of your so called friends as much as you can then turn around and act like they are the best thing in your life while you trample down good people because they don't look good for your image if you hang out with them. At least I'm HONEST with my friends," I spit.

"That's how you get through high school, Caity. Of course, you wouldn't know that at the stupid school you used to go to. You don't get very far in life when you can't interact with people," she says. "If it hadn't been for you screwing up again and ending up in this dimension, you would be back to being that pathetic little nothing that you were back in our world," she spits. Oh. No. She had not just taken it there.

I hear little gasps from the humans in the room. I can feel my temper rising high above my predetermined safe levels. I clench my jaw and say one of the worst things I could possibly say.

"At least I would be a pathetic little nothing that people could depend on, instead of a thieving liar who can't go through with anything," I say. This time it's her that flinches, though I hate myself inside.

"Right. Because you were so different," she growls quietly.

"I didn't do it for fun. You made it into an artform and dragged me into it," I say with coldness I didn't even know I possessed.

"What the hell do you make of your stories, then? Do you call it twisting the truth. You write LIES to make yourself feel better," she says.

"Comes with the job. At least I have a safe way to vent instead of taking it out on one of the only people that gives a damn about you," I say. "But you don't need someone to care, because you're all grown up now. You can take care of yourself. Isn't that right?" I sneer, circling around her. I hate myself so much now. No one else could get such a rise out of me. No one.

"Well I certainly don't need you. Not that you were ever much of a help. At least I have emotions and can feel pain, not like you. Look at you, you're a stereotypical robot now" she say, hitting one of the lowest blows you could. She must realize that she's gone too far because she clamps her hand over her mouth in shock.

"Well, I'm so glad that you wanted to come, but now you can leave," I say, my tears falling finally.

"Caity... Oh my god, Caity. I didn't mean that," she says, her hands never leaving her mouth in her horror.

"Give me a second, okay?" I plead thinly before teleporting away. I don't know where I end up, but I know that I am crying and that I need to punch something. I look up and realize where I went to. I grin and take aim with the same weapon that I had threatened Ironhide with. I fired off five shots, listening to the explosions as the Decepticon ship exploded on one side. I hear a multitude of angered roars, but I teleport back to the Farm, going right up to my distraught sister and hugging her tightly. "I am so sorry," I say to her.

"So am I. Just… forget everything I just said," she say.

"See. We told you to just let them argue it out," Caitlin says, leaning against her sister comfortably.

"That was an argument?" Ratchet asks in disbelief.

"That sounded more like verbal war," Ironhide says.

"They make Megatron's and Boss Bot's taunts in battle seem like friendly banter!" Jazz says.

Optimus doesn't say anything, just looks between the two of us. "Where did you go?" he asks me finally.

"I blew up a part of Megatron's ship," I say.

Chromia laughs at this, not as affected by the argument as the males in the room. "That is a productive way to relieve stress," she says.

"What do you mean 'blow up'?" Shelby asks. I pull out the mini-fusion cannon, which I had just found out that is what it is called. "You are telling me… that you had the ability to shoot me the entire time we were fighting… and you didn't?"

"Well, shooting you would mean that you would be complaining like the drama queen you are for forever and you would never let it go," I say.

"You forgave her very easily," Mirage says, curious.

"Of course I did. She's my sister," I say, not understanding why I wouldn't forgive her. "That, and I am terrible at holding grudges," I add.

"She is. Which is good for me, because if she did hold grudges, I would be in so much trouble," Shelby adds.

"Are you going to properly introduce us, little one?" Elita-1 asks. I nod, grinning.

"Right, sorry. Shelby, this is Elita-1. Elita-1, this is my older sister, Shelby," I say.

"You may both call me Elita," she tells us.

Caitlin comes over and looks up at her in amazement. "Wow. You're pretty," she says, amazed by the femme. Elita is equally as fascinated with the girl, and gently picks her up in her servos.

"Thank you, sweetspark!" she coos. "You're are simply adorable! Optimus, you didn't tell me that the younglings on this planet were so… so… precious," she says. I force my holoform away and hide my helm in my arms, laughing at the same time as being thoroughly embarrassed.

"Yeah, you used to be adorable, Cait. What happened?" Shelby asks.

"I got kidnapped by an insane god," I say. "Who proceeded to change my species."

"You ruin all my fun, don't you?" Shelby grumbles.

I am not insane.

I disagree. "No. Just when it's fun for me," I reply.

"Oh, don't listen to her, little one. You're just as adorable as your younger self," she coos to me. I bury my head in embarrassment once more. Shelby is outright laughing at me now.

Shelb seems to have hit it off with the twins, which is something that I KNOW will not end well. She's manipulative, that one. "Shelb, what are you doing? You had better stay away from them. I swear if you cause any trouble here, I won't let you come back," I warn her, standing up and calling after them as Sunny and Sides slyly begin to lead her away. "Sunny! Get your aft back here with her!" I call.

"Little one!" I hear a lot of mechs say, but I ignore them in favor of stealing Shelb back and returning her to Shelby.

"No. Playing. With. Them. Understand?" I say, looking the child in the eyes. She pouts but nods.

I check the time as Caitlin yawns, leaning against Elita's curled fingers and dozing off. Was it that time already?

"Shelb, come here. Time to go," Shelby says gently to the girl, who groans and whines about not wanting to go.

"Elita, I know that she seems adorable right now, but she's a demon when she's crabby, and she needs to get to bed," I say hesitantly to the femme. She vents softly at the now sleeping mini-me and hands her over. I cradle her carefully in my arms and teleport away to Shelby's base, which is now a mess. Big surprise.

"You left nobody in charge, didn't you?" I ask my sister.

"Uh… maybe," she admits. I sigh and set Caitlin on the only double cot in the base, Shelb crawling next to her and closing her eyes for sleep.

"Night, Cait. See you soon," Shelby says, hugging me once before starting on cleaning and getting people to bed.


	25. To Come To An Understanding

_**Heyo, Happy New Year and all! Sorry for the delay, first week back at school was torture and some other personal things came up, but that has nothing to do with this, so I will continue with the story! Chapter 25!**_

* * *

><p>I teleport back to the Farm and sheepishly go to stand in front of Optimus. "I am so sorry that I argued with my sister and made a scene in front of everyone. I hadn't meant to…" I say, looking at the floor.<p>

"Little one, you do not need to apologize. While I admit that none of us were expecting that, you made up with each other and told each other that you had not truly meant your words. It also told us a lot about your bond with your sister. Not an actual bond, but almost," he says. "Tell me, how close are you in age?"

"We were born ten months and twenty-eight days apart," I say automatically. "There is a month and two days in between our birthdays," I add.

"Really?" he asks in surprise. I nod. "I would have thought over a year," he says.

"Did you lose a bet to Jazz?" I ask.

"...Yes," he says. "Two, now."

"You shouldn't make bets with Jazz. I've heard that you don't normally win. Unless you're the guys, of course," I add.

"Well, you just won me another bet," Optimus says, sounding much happier.

I roll my optics. "Congrats. One out of three. Those are fantastic odds," I say sarcastically.

"Sir, we have a very angry transmission from Megatron, demanding a conference call" Prowl says urgently behind us.

"Oh, I have got to see this," I say, pulling out the headphones.

"Maybe it is best that you do not. I believe this will have to do with blowing up his ship," Prowl says.

"That's why I've got to see this. Can you put on a caption on the bottom of the screen so I know what is being said?" I ask. Prowl looks at Optimus, who nods slowly. I grin.

I pull on the headphones and hop onto Prime's offered servo. I scramble onto his shoulder when he raise his servo to it, hiding slightly behind his helm.

"Where is that pit-spawned, Unicron personified, little she-demon of a bratling?" is the first thing Megatron says when he comes on screen. Where had we even gotten this screen? Or when?

"Did you check the mirror?" I ask, still hidden. Snickers sounded from the more childish Autobots, not that I actually heard, but I could see it. "Don't try ordering me around, either. I can't hear you," I add.

"Get her out of here, Prime," Megatron growls.

"She stays Megatron," Optimus replies evenly.

"Not here, as in you pathetic base, Prime. Get her off Earth, as well as her siblings. Sentinel is awakening," Megatron spits.

I stiffen at that. "Sentinel that has the cosmic rust gun, and the weird pillars, and who only cares about getting Cybertron rebuilt no matter how many humans die, and leads to Ironhide's death and Optimus' near death and Megatron's actual death Sentinel?" I ask shakily.

"Sentinel Prime?" Megatron growls.

"Yeah, that's the one," I say. "He makes you look nice," I tell Megatron, stepping slightly out of the shadows of Optimus' helm so I can be seen. "Which is pretty hard to do," I add, taking off the headphones that kept me deaf and safe.

"You never mentioned him," Optimus rumbles.

"That's because the events that lead up to you discovering him won't happen!" I say.

"Has Sentinel truly fallen as much as you claim?" Optimus asks me urgently.

"YES!" both Megatron and I say just as urgently. We pause and glare at each other. "Don't do that," we say. "Stop!"

"Enough, both of you," Optimus growls. "Why do you care if Sentinel gets his servos on them, Megatron?"

"Because I just received a transmission from him," Megatron growled. "What else would I call YOU for?"

"Because you realize how idiotic your war is and how you should just both admit that you were wrong about everything, especially how you went about to fix the problem, and leave this world in peace while actually trying to work with the humans instead of enslaving them?" I suggest dryly.

Both Optimus and Megatron share a shocked look before guiltily looking away.

"Wow, did I just make BOTH of you feel guilty?" I ask in shock.

"Be silent, bratling. You don't know what you speak of," Megatron growls.

"Yes, yes, I most definitely do. I have siblings, too, and I know what it feels like when they don't view the world the same way that I do, and I know how it feels like to have to fight for what you believe that right path is. But YOU don't have the excuse of being under the Fallen's influence, you don't have the damn All Spark as an excuse, either. The only realize you are still fighting is for the sake of fighting your brother, now," I accuse.

"We are no longer brothers, now be silent," Megatron growls.

"Bullshit," I say angrily. "Having a fight doesn't make you any less of brothers. When you had the guys running around like attack dogs, I still considered them my brothers, even after they SHOT me. I know that BOTH of you value loyalty. Why don't you have any in each other. There isn't ANY reason to fight anymore. I mean, Megatron won't be able to keep the humans forever, because there is only one facility left with any kids in it, and the adults are either helping the human rebels or ARE the rebels, and within the year, all of them would be free and fighting with the Autobots against you and the Decepticons. Honestly, WHAT ARE YOU FIGHTING FOR NOW?" I demand.

"The only game piece left in the war," Optimus says quietly, looking at me pointedly. I wilt and sigh in exasperation.

"The angels are siding with the Autobots in the war. This won't be a problem if there isn't a war to begin with," I say.

"You canno-" Megatron growls.

"Yes, I can speak for them, because after stuffing us in cages and removing our will didn't score you a lot of brownie points, and my sisters will side with me," I say, cutting him off. "Now, what did the transmission say?"

"You dar-" Megatron begins, bristling.

"Shut up for once and just play the damn transmission," Mirage interrupts coldly. Megatron glowers but does.

I shiver as the voice begins to play. "Megatron, deliver the All Spark vessels and the Human Prime to me and you will not meet the same fate that Optimus will. I will use the vessels to bring Cybertron to that pathetic planet my weak student fights you on, and I will use them to restore Cybertron to its former glory," Sentinel growls.

"Please trip down a flight of stairs and land on legos," I breath, closing my eyes and wishing that it would happen.

_I do not believe that him falling on a children's toy will prove to be helpful, therefore, I will have to deny your wish._

I get an idea. I'm about to ask it, but Optimus interrupts me. "What did you say?"

"I asked Primus to make Sentinel fall down a flight of stairs and land on legos, but he says it wouldn't be helpful. Now shut up, I'm praying for once in my life," I say, closing my eyes and bowing my head, like I had often done in church, but this time, I was actually praying with all my heart.

**Please… let them see what they made each other go through, let them see why the other did what they did. Make them 'walk a mile in the other's shoes' so they STOP FIGHTING.**

_I can do that, but you will have to do the same. It is the payment of such a request._

I let out shaky breath. Stop a war, or refuse to let someone else see my past? I almost let the war continue. "Fine," I say out loud, holding my helm in my servos.

Noticing my reluctant and slightly defeated tone, they both look at me expectantly.

"What did you do, Girl?" Megatron asks.

"Wait for-" I begin to say when we are suddenly in empty space, black and suffocating. "-it," I finish.

"What is happening, Caity?" Optimus asks from next to me. Megatron is on the other side of me, looking just as confused.

"Girl, what have you done? Where are we?"

"Are you… scared?" I ask. I receive no answer.

_"You are here at my youngest's request,"_ Primus echoes around us. _"She wishes that you be led to understand why you made the choices you did that lead to the war that has torn my children apart. You WILL stop this war, my children. Sometimes, a sparkling's view of the world is truly all that is needed to do so,"_ he says. He sounds like a scolding parent. Until I realize that it would be my point of view that would serve as the sparkling view of the world.

"I still don't think that-" I begin to protest.

_"I am well aware of your thoughts, little one, but you agreed to this price and you will carry it out in the end,"_ Primus interrupts me.

"No need to make it sound so ominous," I mutter when both Megatron and Optimus shift uneasily.

* * *

><p>Watching Megatron's memories and hearing his thoughts was… interesting. Megatron actually did want the best for his people. He did. Just, he couldn't do anything about it. Even with the Fallen dead, he still was under his influence. I guess he DID know what it was like to not have free will.<p>

I focus on the memory of the battle of Mission City, when he first met me and the guys.

Megatron was fighting in more ways than one. His processor was cursing himself as he took aim at a mech whom he had once called friend as his body worked without its mind, his vocal processor saying words he had no choice in making. Then he felt bullets strike him from behind, making him turn quickly and seeing nothing. A human had struck him? How?

Forgetting about Jazz, he scanned the building where the shot had come from, seeing a small form crouching with a primitive gun, while another form held a hand over the first one's mouth. Moving quickly towards them, intent on killing them, the two forms moved just as quickly, moving out of his actual sight before he could see them. He only ended up seeing them when the older male slowed to scold the foolishly brave female for shooting him. The girl's response of laughter was surprising. The knowing look she had in her eyes was dangerous and it caused the hack inside his processor to send out an alert to kill as quickly as possible.

Following them and doing quick research as to their age, surprisingly finding nothing actually about them, also surprisingly finding them to be younger than the other youngling male that was daring to keep his All Spark from him. Of course, the part of Megatron that was fighting against the hack was wanting to scold the youngling for being so idiotically brave, but at the moment, he was just hoping that the two younglings he was hunting would escape him somehow.

They do, by ducking into a shelter of sorts under the fragile human made surface called concrete. Megatron would have simply blown it up, but he wished to see the face of the youngling who was defying odds and besting him. Not out of cruelty, but in hopes of memorizing it so he could silently apologize to Primus for ending such a young life.

Then the girl begins to actually taunt him. Her companion is worriedly telling her not to, but she continues. The protocols are cruel ones. They review whatever was said to Megatron and decide what level of defiance it is. She is very near the top of the scale. So Megatron listened helplessly as he threatened a slow death to the youngling, who doesn't seem too distressed by it, and then moves a crushed car that he himself had just made and places it all but silently in front of the youngling's safe haven. His hope in them escaping has disappeared as he goes to fight his brother, then the flash of the All Spark as it breaks and some of the energy pouring into the boy. He tosses a few more taunts that he has no choice in saying and flies back to where he had left the younglings trapped, only to find that they had miraculously escaped. The part of Megatron who was still Megatron was rejoicing in that fact while he howled in rage at the escape of his prey.

I look at him carefully, watching him react to those memories and then slowly at the astonishment that spreads across his face. He turns to look down at me. Are his optics purple or am I imagining things?

"Primus is undoing what the Fallen had done to me," he explains joyfully. I nod, having expected that to happen.

Then it changed to the part of when he had first captured me. Starting with him scanning the entire base and coming to a dead spot that was the Bunker. Then pulling out the bunker. He went over the information that Soundwave had given him. It was a sad thing. Soundwave suffered the same treatment as he, as well as any Decepticon. That was why they never defected, even though many wanted to. Of the rare event that had taken place.

It went split screen as he fought and taunted Optimus and fought and taunted me and the guys. I blink rubbing at my optics until I simply focus on the fight between us and Megatron. At the time that I managed it, Megatron was holding me over the cliff's edge.

Did this girl not know when to give up and surrender? Apparently not, because while she didn't outright fight, she was too new and still so fragile from the initial change that, according to Soundwave, had been very painful for them. Megatron cursed himself as he was forced to use that to his advantage via her intricate wings. His hold was careful, though he doubted that she would appreciate it. As predicted, she cried out in pain, but she didn't lose her defiance. It isn't until he shifts his hold on her so as to not only restrain her but to reduce the stress on her wings that she fights once more, giving him a sickening hit with her head, at which Megatron gives a mental cheer, at the same time breaking one of her fragile ribs and causing her to faint from the pain.

He made the mistake of ordering Starscream to watch over her until he had the time to deal with her. The shouting match could be heard clear on the other side of the base, and sadly, Starscream was being beaten easily by a being who had barely even lived. He wondered where she had learned to argue with people. It was almost an artform. If it was, she was past the master level. When he stormed in, probably to save the rebellious little bratling from being crushed by Starscream, he was surprised to find her having found safety in a small alcove.

Grudging respect was naturally hacking its way into the protocols. But they fought back at it fiercely while the girl continued to talk. And talk. And talk. Such tenacity, sarcasm, and just plain intent to annoy was amazingly enough stuffed into such a small package. He was hoping the protocols would just give up and send her back to Earth and his dear brother, if only he got some peace and QUIET.

"That's what my sisters always said. That they never had to worry about me getting kidnapped because the kidnappers would end up just dumping me back, because I would annoy them to death," I say.

Then came my second kidnapping that I focussed on. The one where I had been ignorant to the memories of the world and its cruelty and had been attacked by a shark.

There was one word that described everyone's thoughts when it came to seeing the blood and energon mixture in the ocean. Bratling. Even I called myself that. I even went so far as to face-palm from my own stupidity.

"Idiot. Don't go into shark infested waters," I say helplessly.

"You do realize that at this time, you had no idea what a shark WAS, correct?" Optimus asks.

"I KNOW! How could I be such an idiot?"

Megatron snorts, but it moves forward, continuing as though there had been no interruptions. The third time that I was captured, I zoomed in again, glaring at the scene.

Megatron had to admit, her defiance and escape was unexpected. Her actions after were even more so. She no longer had the same childish gleam to her eyes, though even that had been faint before. Now it was old, but not hardened. No, it was defiant and protective of the young ones she was providing sanctuary to.

Megatron was internally rooting for her, but he also cursing Primus for what he had forced upon her. Of course, outwardly, Megatron was aiming a fusion cannon right at her, and she wasn't stupid enough to move while aimed at it. Until Starscream made a comment that nearly got him killed by the femmling. The now blind seeker had howled in pain while she continued to tear away at him. Even Megatron was horrified by her lack of mercy. It wasn't until a fusion cannon much like his own nearly came fully out of subspace that she pulled away in horror. He caught as she fell, unfortunately bending one of her wings improperly. The real Megatron was thanking Primus that she hadn't fallen like his old master had, that she still valued the life of all things.

I tune out until it came to Megatron reflecting on the pendant.

The eldest of the angels had asked him an odd request just after his 'sister' escaped. To give her that pendant as a gift from him and his 'brothers'. Megatron read the glyph. Such an innocent meaning for such a weary spark.

Megatron twists it in his servos. For once, the protocols are leaving him be, giving him some peace. He wondered how much the sparkling's mother had known that the name would fit? She may not realize it, but she was a beacon of hope throughout the Decepticon ranks, just her name written could bring him such calm in his shattered processor. He paused in his thoughts to check on the still glitched sparkling that was curled in on herself in the dark cage he had placed her in. The cage itself was on his desk, and he still had no clue as to how she had escaped it last time, but he was grateful for it. He sent the signal that would remove the walls, slid the pendant over the specialized necklace, which he then secured around her neck, before allowing the walls to appear once more. Then he watched and he waited for the girl to pull herself from the confines of her processor.

She did, not ten minutes after, quickly identifying the pendant and examining it. Then she pulled a very tenacious trick of actually hacking one of the walls. It was a pity that she hadn't thought to just remove the wall, but she was more intent on the glyph. Occasionally her attention would waver, but eventually, she must have figured out what she wanted, because she began to talk softly to herself. Then she figured out how to play out her own memories on the screen. Most sparklings never learned how to even activate the screens. Humans were more curious than any creature he had ever encountered.

She played a few songs, singing absentmindedly along, though he did not believe that she had noticed. There was a flash of… something on the screen, and she seemed to shut down again. His research deduced it as a panic attack, and he spent the next few hours watching her talking to herself, or someone, and pacing, close calls with other panic attacks, until she paused, then resolutely KICKED the wall.

Megatron was dumbfounded at her escape. All she had done was… kick the wall and the design flaw that he had always overlooked released her? She would have had to find that out by accident. After she had gone, he gingerly retrieved the pendant, subspacing it for safe keeping.

The scenes continue to race by with Megatrons continued confusing feelings on what I was doing.

I turn to him at when it came to when I blew up the base.

"You are an idiot and should have told someone the moment you were hacked," I tell him. He goes to grab for me, but something bars him from doing so. Other than his own recovering processor, that is.

_"Enough. No harm shall come to her. Especially not in her own mind,"_ Primus says.

"Wait, this is MY mind?" I ask, looking around. "I didn't realize it was-"

_"You have no idea the troubles I am having keeping it in such a state of peace,"_ Primus interrupts.

"Ah, that would explain it," I say.

"Why would you attack my ship? You could have killed someone!" he says.

"I am positive you will see why," I say. "And no one was where I shot. I couldn't have killed anyone," I add with a sly grin. "Can I have my pendant back?"

* * *

><p>He hands it over, and I pull it into my own subspace after gently running a finger over the glyph. Next was Optimus' memories, which were sadder, somehow, because of the confused pain that he felt in every battle as he battle the brother he had always looked up to ever since their bond had been formed. I felt a lot of sympathy. It only grew worse as he was forced to watch the his home and his men fall to his brother's forces. The most pain came from sending All Spark into space where no one expected it to be found again. Or at least, it was until they found out about Earth and Optimus nearly glitched from the guilt of allowing such a young planet to be brought into their war.<p>

Optimus landed harshly, making a deep furrow in the ground. It had been a very long time since had encountered a planet with such density in their atmosphere, and even more since that planet had housed sentient organics. The last organics he had met had been only just discovering their sentience, mere infants to reality. This planet, while young, were not only just discovering their sentience, they knew of it, and they knew how to use it as well. Their tenacity reminded him of a youngling's, always trying to understand why things were the way they were.

Downloading the Internet was interesting to say the least. So many diverse cultures, but so much violence as well. Their weaponry was strangely… familiar, and it wasn't until he hacked into all the secure files he had downloaded that he found out why. They humans, small and fragile, and so YOUNG had managed to reverse engineer their research on Megatron.

Optimus would have liked to reflect more on that, but his mechs were hailing him to a meeting place, and he was positive that Bumblebee was laughing about something.

So he adopted an Earthen disguise and roared away to the meeting place. He at first only paid attention to Samuel Witwicky, after all, he was the one that they needed his help from. It wasn't until his introduction of Jazz that he took any notice of the younger humans that were leaning casually against the wall. That should have been the first thing that alerted him that something was wrong. Small organics did not casually lean against walls when they see aliens for the first time. Only, according to the only girl and the youngest to boot, they weren't from the dimension they now occupied, and apparently they knew the outcome of a battle that would happen in the near future.

He took time while they were arguing to analyze how they interacted with each other. The younger males obviously weren't interrupting the youngest and the eldest, but it was also clear that the eldest was in charge, even though it was the girl who was doing the talking. Something about rules?

I focus out of the scene, thinking about everything I had watched so far. It was very difficult to think right now. Probably because Primus was keeping my mind as blank as possible here.

I focus in on when I had escaped from Megatron after a year, when Optimus had found out about it. To say that he had been mad at me was an understatement.

Optimus swore that those angels were going to be the offlining of him! Or, rather, one particular angel who had not only escaped Megatron successfully, but also had raided multiple facilities where children were being kept, and had apparently built a secure base, all within the course of a few days, yet she had never seemed to think of contacting any of the Autobots, not even Jazz, who she seemed to have a soft spot for and would tend to be more inclined to listen to.

But, according to Ironhide and Jazz, they had come across the base by accident, following her energy signature as it pulsed for barely a nanosecond. How they had caught it, he had no idea. But, they HAD found her, and she was doing what she apparently did best by causing trouble and taking care of those she had taken under her wings.

I focused again on when I had escaped last time.

Optimus woke to a soft weight on the roof of his alt-mode. He wondered if one of the children had managed to climb up there without his knowledge, but the soft, metallic pat on his roof told him otherwise and had him hastening to awaken his troops to figure out when in pit she had arrived and how she had done so without waking anyone up. No one had any idea.

Optimus berated Ratchet for lack of tact, but the child's elation of her loved ones that she had spoke so highly of was brilliant. It was disheartening to see a mask slide over her as she address her siblings though, always being careful. Not for the first time, Optimus cursed the war and his part in it. Though, she did loosen up after being scolded, resulting in a base-wide game of hide and seek that all participated in. It astounded him the places that she chose to hide, especially when he swore he saw her at the edge of his optical range, yet never actually catching sight of her.

I burst out laughing. "That had been fun. You had been so confused and you looked like you were about to start blasting everything around you to make sure that none of it was alive!" I say. Optimus grumbles, but doesn't answer, going back to watching the scene. I zone out again until it came to the time when the new arrivals had made it to the base.

Optimus flinched slightly as Caity grumpily began to scold Prowl for the hole he had placed in the ceiling. He knew from experience that crabby sparklings were not enjoyable to deal with, and Prowl was not known for his social skills. But the child simply went back to the large and overly stuffed blanket she had found and burrowed back under it. But she kept moving around and eventually was found to have gone up onto one of the thick rafters high above them in her quest for sleep.

* * *

><p>"You're frightened by thunder?" Megatron asks me in surprise. I ignore him. "It is not rational, if anything, you should be frightened by lightning, that could kill you."<p>

I again ignore him until the end of them, where I just silently wait for my memories to begin playing once more. Play they do, leaving me to watch my entire life AGAIN, though this time there is an audience.

"Out of the three sets of memories we watched, I believe yours is the oddest," Megatron comments.

"Probably," I agree. "Primus, can we leave?" I ask.

_"No. You are hiding a memory, little one,"_ he replies sternly.

"I am?" I ask, confused, trying to figure out which one I hadn't seen. Which meant that I basically went through my entire life again- wait, that one. "How does that one have anything to do with anything. It was just an argu-" I begin to say, when suddenly the scene is the memory I had just stumbled across. Optimus recognizes it, and Megatron recognizes it as well through the memories.

"Is this not the last time you saw your younger sister?" Optimus asks.

"Yup," I mutter. I watch my memory warily.

"They are being ridiculous," I had said to Kayla.

"I'm getting sick and tired of their bullshit," she agrees while her fiance, Geoff, adds in support while we disagree with everything that had been going on that week. The reason why we were leaving. Not that we hadn't been supposed to be leaving that day, anyways.

"You guys ready?" Kayla asks.

"Yeah," Shelby had said.

"What are you girls doing?" a sickeningly sweet and probably drunk voice asks. I had turned to look at her.

"We're leaving?" I had said with confusion.

"No, you girls are staying until tomorrow. You don't have to leave because Kayla is throwing a tantrum," she said.

I had felt the anger rising up then as I faced my ex-step-mom, Melinda, angrily. "She's our ride home," I had said stubbornly.

"No, I'll take you back to Meghan's tomorrow," she told us, turning away and ending the conversation.

The next ten minutes were spent with Shelby bursting into tears, and calling Meghan and asking permission to leave. We got it, but with orders to inform Melinda that we were leaving. Shelby, being the older of the two of us, was going to be the one, supposed to be the one to tell her.

You could feel my fear at what we were about to do.

"We'r- we're leaving. We c-c-called Meghan a-a-and she sa-said that w-we c-could go h-home with K-Kayla," Shelby had stuttered. You could feel my hope for pulling this off plummet upon seeing the fear in Shelby's face.

There was hushed yelling before Melinda was told to take it away from the campfire. Yeah, because that was going to help… because going ten feet away would make a difference.

"You girls are not leaving. You know that you are disappointing your grandma, right?" she demands.

I had straightened up angrily and swallowed back my fear, glaring her right in the eye. "Yes," I say defiantly.

She stares at me in shock, trying to find the words that had just failed her. I had never once stood up for myself before. Not in this manner, at least. Funny how the woman who had tried to kick me out a bunch of times was trying to force me to stay.

"You two shouldn't be bringing Kayla into your decision. Her leaving has nothing to do with this. Don't bring her into this," she says.

"We-we're not!" Shelby stutters horrifically.

Melinda ignores her. "You acting this way is hurting me. You're disappointing me," she says.

That was something that I could live with, I had decided. "Well, I'm sorry you feel that way, but we are leaving and you aren't going to stop us, because we have permission from our LEGAL GUARDIAN," I had said coldly before grabbing Shelby and hauling her over to Kayla's car, where she numbly opened the door and crawled in. I got in on the other side, holding my breath as Melinda stormed over, was she crying? I was terrified that she was going to attack, but all she did was grab the crying Libby and walk away.

I sort of went into hysterics, after that, laughing.

"What did you say to her?" Kaya had asked me with an amazed grin. She had always been telling me that we needed to stand up to her.

I had told them, and Shelby slowly came out of her panic attack, and we drove to a familiar place known as the Farm, where we would be spending the night. Recounting the tale again to Grandma Linda before going to bed, sharing a bed with Shelby as usual. The next day, we had left after hearing the news that Jim had hit Daisey, my slightly younger, sass-mouthed cousin who didn't realize that she couldn't take on anyone. All bark and no bite. Well, she had a bite, but it was only when she had help, like the time she and Shelby had ambushed me on a snowpile and tried to beat the crap out of me, but I had fought them off, getting in trouble because they had gone and complained while leaving me crying and curled up in the snow. Even so, everyone agreed that had I been there, I would have been right there in Jim's face, getting him off Daisey.

The memory faded off. The scene returned to black. "Well, that's it. May we go?" I ask Primus.

"You aren't even going to discuss that?" Megatron asks, his now blue optics flashing angrily.

"What's there to discuss about it? You saw what happened, you know my thoughts and feelings when it happened. There isn't anything left TO discuss," I say.

"It would explain a lot why you got so upset when that shelter was destroyed," he says, diverting the conversation.

"That shelter was a home and one of the happiest places on Earth. I would rather go there than Hogwarts," I say, going with the distraction. "Are you two done with your little spat, now? End of the war?" I ask a little hesitantly.

"I believe so. But the other Dec-" Megatron began.

_"They have been cleansed as well, my child. The humans have been released and they are helping in rebuilding any and all damage that has happened. I will return you, my children, please do not resume the war,"_ Primus says, and we are back at the base. Megatron is as well. That causes a lot of people to jump back and draw their weapons. Until they realized that Optimus wasn't attacking him, just staring at him in shock.

* * *

><p>"How long were we gone?" I ask, teleporting down to my sisters and brothers, who envelope me in hugs and kisses on the forehelm.<p>

"Five months, you idiot," Kayla says.

"Blame Primus," I order. I welcome their comfort, glad that my odd, broken little family was alright. "Has Sentinel made a move?" I ask.

"Yes. But with everyone against him, it's been easier to fight him off. There's some kind of mass amnesia of the past year, like people can't remember what happened to them in the facilities, or who put them there, just that it had been bad robots, but now there are good ones helping them. And that one bad robot is looking for their angels, because all the people we helped still remember us," Luke explains.

"Where were you?" Kain asks.

I hesitate to answer. "Somewhere that Primus sent us. To get them to stop the war," I say.

"Did you succeed?" Michael asks obliviously. I turn and look up at the two reconciled leaders.

"Yeah, I think it did," I say. The bunker shook.

"Wow, he's really punctual," Luke says.

"Sentinel?" I ask.

"Yup. He attacks at the same time every day," he replies, not concerned about it at all.

"Anyone going to put a stop to him before he puts a hole in my bunker?" I ask.

"Your bunker? Since when did this go from home base to your bunker?" Shelby asks.

"Mine! My precious!" I growl playfully, patting the wall. Everyone laughed at the reference, the ones who got it, at least.

Bright light filled the bunker. Bright, NATURAL sunlight.

"Did you just put a hole in my base?" I demand in a deathly calm voice. I smiled, but it wasn't a very nice one. In fact, it was downright devilish. Everyone who knew me took a couple of long steps back. Good thing, too, because I had just pulled out my fusion cannon and shot Sentinel directly in his shocked faceplates. "Go away. Now. And never, ever, try to put another hole in my base, mmkay?" I ask sweetly.

"Slagging glitch! What are you?" Sentinel demands as he comes to his full height once more. I spread my wings and easily fly up to his optic level, though still far away.

"I'm one REALLY pissed off angel," I reply, raising the fusion cannon to fire once more. I raise an optic ridge, wondering if he would back down when he already had a large chunk of armor missing, or if he would continue. He raised his cosmic rust cannon at me.

"Stand down, vessel, or I will destroy your base even more completely than you could ever imagine," he says.

I fire, hitting the cosmic rust cannon without error, causing it to explode, no longer functioning. He howls in pain, transforming hastily and driving away like the coward he was.

"Did you just…?" Optimus asks in shock.

"Are you really so surprised, brother? She singlehandedly ended a war that has been going on for thousands of vorns," Megatron says nonchalantly.

"Wait, so Megatron is a good guy now?" Luke asks in confusion.

"Yup. Long story that you don't get to hear," I explain as I subspace the fusion cannon. "How the hell did no one think to just destroy that thing?" I ask.

"Because we assumed that by destroying it, it would send out a blast of cosmic rust. Apparently not, though," Ratchet tells me hesitantly.

"Well, I shot him from pretty far away. The cosmic rust would have only landed harmlessly on the ground," I say.

"That is true," he agrees.

"So… how's life?" I ask.


	26. Not The End

_**So, I was bored when I wrote this, and I was feeling kind of sad, so I gave you lots of fluff and funny stuff. I hope you enjoy and it makes you a little bit happier! Here you go, by no means the end of this story, CHAPTER... *checks chapter number* 26! Wow... only halfway through what I've written! Not even! WOW!**_

No one answers, because it suddenly begins to snow. First snow of the season, if their shocked expressions are right. I hold out my servos in delight, catching the light fluffs in them. I notice how Megatron is ducking as far away from the ice as he can. I blink. Then I grin. I gather as much snow as I can, steadily forming it into a ball until it was almost the size of me. I teleport it into a freezer before gathering the supplies I need. Building it was easy, using Optimus' memories of building things to quickly set it up. More snow had fallen, making it so when I set it down that it was silent. I went back and grabbed the giant snowball, loading it into the catapult and aiming it carefully at Megatron. More snow was falling faster into the shovel of it, and I build the ball of snow bigger and bigger until it was almost too big for the medieval weapon. I pull it back and release, sending the snow flying through the hole and hitting Megatron in the helm, making him stutter in shock. He glares at me when I burst into peals of laughter. I teleport the catapult away and ball up some more snow and hit him with it. It falls onto right above his spark chamber, and he shivers.

"Come on, grumpy. The snow isn't going to hurt ya," I say. I toss another ball of snow, this time at Luke, who ducks to form his own snowball, and mine hits Ironhide. My optics widen in horror. The Weapons Specialist slowly turns to face me, easily brushing off the snow. Then, very carefully, he aims a stunning blast at me, which I barely dodge. I dive, forming more balls of snow and toss them back at him, most of them hitting, though a few of them falling down to the laughing soldiers, who quickly pulled on winter coats, hats, and gloves and join in.

Things get really interesting when Sunny and Sides join in, but using paintballs instead of snowballs. Those everyone is trying to dodge, because they are silver and gold, like them, and basically it was them being able to rub it in our faces if they hit us. I ended up being almost completely gold, except for my servos and my chassis, which was silver.

"Did you guys do that on purpose?" I demand as I dive into a supply closet and a lovely milk chocolate brown paint, which I used to dump over the twins. They protest, snatching me out of the air and dumping the last of the large amount of brown paint on my helm, making me brown, silver and gold.

"What? Do on purpose?" Sunny asks with a half-meant growl.

"Don't know what she's talkin' about, Sunny," Sides adds with a cheeky grin.

"She must be confused. Must come with being a little sparkling," Sunny says, mockingly cradling me close to his spark. I kick out, making him wince with the slight discomfort of it being so close to his spark, and he grapples for something just above my wings' base but below my neck. I freeze, curling up against my will. "See? Nice and easy," Sunny teases. I slowly pull a small knife from subspace, again, moving slowly because of whatever he had done. Then, with great care, I stabbed it behind me, making him yelp and release me as a dot of energon pooled from the tip of his finger where I had stabbed him. I spread my wings and glare at him.

"What did you do?" I threaten, still holding the knife.

"Whoa, femmling! Do you even know how to use that?" Sideswipe asks, doing the same thing that Sunny had done and snatching the small blade from me and subspacing it. "Little ones shouldn't play with sharp things or things that go boom," he teasingly scolds.

"KAYLA! Sunny and Sides are bullying me!" I cry out.

Sides almost drops me. "You're callin' in your big sister for help? That's not fair!" he protests.

"Put her down, Sideswipe," Kayla orders sternly.

"But she's nicer this way," he protests. I barely listen. My processor is slowing I suddenly slide into recharge against my will, listening to Sides' half spark beat loudly close to me. This was so unfair.

"DO YOU LIKE IT BEING DONE TO YOU? NO? THEN WHY IN PIT WOULD YOU DO IT TO HER?" I heard someone shouting. Was that Elita? I realized that the spark I was next to was a full spark. Who was holding me, then? I couldn't seem to shake recharge from my processor, and the constant pull back to it was annoying. I was one of those people that when they wake up, it's like a snap, and I'm up. This was odd for me.

I blearily online my optics, looking at the scene of Side's cowering behind Sunny, who was glaring at her stoically, though every once in a while, a flicker of fear came across his faceplates. Elita continued to scold them until I finally managed to speak up.

"Stop yelling," I mumble. The shouting cuts off abruptly. I blink up at Sunny and Sides owlishly. "What did you two do?" I ask sleepily.

"The-" Elita began.

"Mm-mm. I asked them," I say, cutting her off. I yawn.

"We pulled you into forced recharge," Sides says sheepishly.

"Mmmm. Is that why I'm so… sleepy?" I ask.

"Yes. The effects of it should last for the next few days," Elita says before I can cut her off.

"That wasn't-" I cut off, yawning again, "-very nice. What are you guys gonna do when you need someone that is actually intelligent to pull off a prank?" I ask.

I hear muffled laughter from off to the sides, but am too tired to actually look. Instead, I close my optics and lower my helm, falling into light recharge once more.

When I woke up again, I was with someone else. One quick glance told me it Was Ironhide, and since the insane mech wasn't attempting to shoot me or anything, I was content to fall back into slumber. It became almost like a game to me, guess if I was with someone who had already held me or not. After Ironhide, it was back to Sides, then Sunny, then Ratchet, who I actually woke three times in a row before I was handed off. I didn't start getting annoyed until it had gone through all but three mechs at least twice, then I woke to Mirage grumbling and holding me as far away from him as possible.

"What are you doing?" I ask blearily. Mirage jolts in surprise, waking me up slightly more.

"You keep disappearing!" he protests.

"Am I? Why does that bother you?" I ask.

"I-I am not sure," he says, bringing me closer. Much better, I can hear his spark now. I cudde as close as I can to it before falling asleep once more. I wake up and nearly fall back to sleep immediately. Whoever had me now had a large, powerful presence, but it was also kind and fatherly. I blearily open one optic and see who it was. It was Optimus, absently reading a data-pad while holding me.

"What day is it?" I complain.

"The date has not changed since you were sent into this state," Optimus replies, answering my real question. I groan and go limp once more, but force myself to stay awake. It's difficult. Very difficult. I had deduced that the bigger the spark presence, the faster I would fall back into recharge.

"Sleep, little one. It is truly pointless for you not to. Besides, it will be good for you, saying as you stubbornly resist recharge every chance you get," Optimus scolds gently. I try to open my optics to glare at him, but I am forced once more into recharge. Damn Prime to pit.

I wake up to an even more powerful spark-presence. But, I don't fall asleep immediately. I feel safe again, which, as I have said before, makes me wary. Wariness causes alertness, causes sleep's pull to lessen. I open my optics fully and even manage to sit up and look blearily at the mech who is holding me right over his spark chamber. Megatron. But I don't worry. This is Megatron, Lord Protectorate of Cybertron. He hurts me, and I am pretty sure he would commit suicide. Well, not that extreme, but still.

"Hi," I say. Then I press as close as I can to his spark, trying to absorb its warmth. I realize that we are outside, and that it's snowing again. "Pretty," I say, lazily reaching up and grabbing at flakes, watching them melt in my metal palms. "I thought you didn't like cold," I say to him.

"I do not, but you do," he says.

"Well, I like being warm more, so can we go back inside?" I ask pleadingly, shivering despite the warmth from his spark.

"Yes, we may, little one," he says.

I frown. "Why do you guys only ever call me little one?" I ask grumpily.

"Because you are very small," he replies, amused.

"So are the guys, and my sisters," I complain.

"But you are the smallest," he replies evenly, travelling inside. I go limp once more, allowing my learned reaction to the comfort and feeling of safety to be pushed away, letting me fall asleep next to the biggest spark presence in the base.

When I wake up, I whine because I'm back with Sides, and his half spark, while still warm and comforting, is only that, a half spark. I teleport over to the next closest spark signature, sigh contently, and fall back to sleep, never seeing Ratchet and Sides exchange shocked and bemused looks with each other.

I wake up slightly enough to teleport to the next biggest spark signature is close enough for me to feel it. It's Ironhide, who doesn't complain in the slightest, just gently runs a finger over my helm in greeting and continues on his way.

It continued this way, me teleporting to different spark presences, falling asleep to find that I had been handed off again, then teleporting away once more.

After the third day, I was currently with Optimus, content for the moment. My sleepiness was slowly wearing off, enough that I wasn't falling asleep every few minutes, but I still was feeling too lazy to do anything productive. I felt a pull of another spark presence, though it felt off, I teleported over to it. It was Megatron, and he looked pissed.

"What's wrong, grumpbot?" I ask.

"Away with you, sparkling," he growls at me, gently setting me on the ground and continuing on his way.

"Uh uh," I say. "You have the biggest spark presence here. I'm staying," I say stubbornly.

"No, you are not. I have to leave to assist a few of our troops who were ambushed by a unit of Sentinel's drones," he says.

Ah, that's why he was so mad.

"Send Ironhide, he needs the target practice before he blows up Ratchet from lack of anything interesting for him do," I advise. Megatron pauses at the suggested.

"What did you do?" he asks. I smile slyly.

"Me? Nothing. But I'm not the only devil around here, and the guys have been hanging out with the twins lately, and casting plotting looks at Ironhide," I say.

"I am SURE that you had nothing to do with this and did not promise to try to get Ironhide off base if you could," Megatron says sarcastically, but he calls Ironhide over. "Ironhide, could you go and assist the idiots who got ambushed by drones? I would go myself, but the bratling is insisting I say and she is refusing no as an answer," he says I half lid my optics as though I was mere inches from recharge instead of internally laughing.

"Yeah, at least I'll get to blow something up with my cannons," Ironhide says, transforming and rolling out. I let out a snort of laughter as soon as he was gone.

"f I get shot by that trigger happy maniac, I am blaming you, little one," Megatron growls.

I let out a loud whistle on a frequency that we had actually developed precisely for this prank. You couldn't hear it unless you were clued into the frequency code, or you were Optimus or Megatron. Megatron was surprised to see his brother being apart of the prank, apparent from the look on his faceplates.

"You have been pulled into such… childishness as well?" he asks.

"They are very convincing when they are behaving," Optimus replies grumpily. It hadn't been easy to convince him. Actually, it had taken all of us sitting on him as he just woke from recharge and refusing to move until he agreed to help. "Even Prowl?"

"This is NOT through choice," the Enforcer growls.

"No, he's not lying. We had to convince Jazz to get him to agree. You don't want to know how he did it, but it was very LOUD," Luke says, glaring at the couple. There were a couple of snickers, including from Jazz himself, while Prowl shoved his mate into a wall.

"Don't you dare be breaking my base again, Prowl," I warn idly.

"Why is it still YOUR base? It is now the only base and technically, it is the Cybertronian base, not yours, run by Optimus and myself," Megatron quips.

"And without me, you guys would still be having your stupid fight. Therefore, my base," I say evenly.

"I'm tempted to send you back into recharge, bratling," Megatron replies.

"Ah, but then you would have to put up with me for the next few days while I'm incapable of doing anything but sleep," I say, yawning, the prank being fully set up now. I close my optics and let recharge take me once more while Megatron continued to grumble until he realized I was asleep. When I woke up, it was to an outraged roar as Ironhide found bright pink glittery paint, tooth magnets, and basically everything that we could get that could be associated with the Tooth Fairy. No, it was not my idea. All I had a part in was getting Ironhide off base for it to be set up.

"BRATLINGS! GET YOUR AFTS OVER HERE, NOW!" Ironhide roars. I wince, hiding behind Megatron's helm. "CAITY!" he calls. Why was I the first one he calls out?

"I had nothing to do with it! I was just told to get you off base! I was sleeping too much to actually have any part in the planning!" I say as I fly hesitantly out.

"Who did do this then?" the enraged warrior demands with surprising calmness.

I glance around the room, taking in the next course of action. "I seem to be having memory problems at the moment and can't recall exactly who pranked you…" I lie, not looking at him, but rather at the ground. There was a collective sigh of relief, and the idiots gave themselves away. "You IDIOTS! You're supposed to act INNOCENT!" I snap impatiently.

"Thank you, Caity," Ironhide says with a small laugh as he fires up his cannons. Setting off the second part of the prank that I hadn't known about. Warm, nearly hot, cleaning solvent poured from the ceiling, soaking both me an Ironhide. I keep my helm down, gaping in shock. I shiver before turning to glare around the room and giving specific names of everyone who had helped with the pranks.

"You. Did. Not. Just. Dump. Solvent. On. Me," Ironhide growls, but at least he's no longer covered in the first part of the prank. Then I stared at him in abject horror. His own paint was gone!

"I-Ironhide. Y-y-your paint job," I stutter fearfully. The high pitched sound byte that he emits sends everyone to the ground. With great care, he catches me and slides the headphones, deafening me abruptly. The ringing in my processor dies down slowly, and I find that the last of my exhaustion had been banished.

"What was that, dog whistle for Cybertronians?" I quip. I look up at him so I could know what his answer was, but instead of getting one, I felt a sort of pressure at the back of my mind, which I prodded until it released with a message.

::Did you know that that was going to be done?:: he asks.

Primus is quick to show me how I could respond to comm. speak. ::Uh, no? Why would I have gone out there if I had KNOWN that I was going to get pranked as well?:: I ask in return. ::How come no one has ever showed us how to do this before?:: I add.

::We prefer being able to listen in on what you are planning.:: he replies dryly.

::Plan? We don't plan. We plot, and then wing it when everything goes wrong.:: I reply, pretending I was offended by the notion.

::I'm surprised you even do that.:: Ironhide replies.

::You and me, both.:: I agree. I look at the poor pranksters who are holding their helms in extreme pain.

::Are you older than Optimus and Megatron?:: I ask.

::Ratchet and I practically raised them both.:: Ironhide says, a fair bit of pride evident in the way he said it.

::Ah, that would explain why they seem so wary to piss you off.:: I say.

::Indeed.:: Ironhide replies, and I can feel him chuckling. The mechs and femmes around us suddenly outright collapse, except for Ratchet, who grins and returns to his full height as though nothing happened.

::Can he not…?:: I ask hesitantly.

::No. He can hear it. He just is the only one who thought to turn down the setting on their audio receptors.:: Ironhide says.

::Is it safe to remove the headphones?:: I ask.

Instead of answering me, the headphones are deftly removed and I can hear again. Silence.

"Wow. What WAS that?" I ask warily.

"That was me simply playing a high frequency sound byte, amplified and on a loop. It is a simple trick that has worked for vorns, since our leaders were entrusted into our care," Ironhide replies.

With matching groans, said leaders begin to wake up, and as soon they do, they are fast to back up sheepishly, as though they were children and they KNOW that they are in HEAPS of trouble. Ironhide is having none of it and easily drags both of them to their peds and into a separate room in the bunker, something that I found interesting as how they managed it so perfectly to meld into the original frame of the bunker, me coming along for the ride, and Ratchet right behind us.

"Do you have anything to say for yourselves, younglings?" Ironhide growls expectantly.

"Ironhide, we are no longer younglings! You have no-" Megatron begins to protest but cuts himself off abruptly at Ironhide's glare. "I apologize for assisting in the prank, Caretaker," he says, helm bowed and apologetic.

"Ironhide, it was simply a bit of harmless fun that the sparklings wished to do," Optimus says carefully. I gape at him in shock. I knew for a fact that he had planned most of the first prank after he agreedto help, and I had no idea of how much of the second he had a part of.

"I beg to differ!" I say. "May I differ? Please?" I ask Ironhide. I don't get a no, so I press on. "You're the one that planned most of it! Even suggested it to Sunny and Sides that they help them have some fun! You WANTED a prank to be played!"

Optimus looks up at me in surprise. "Very well, I seem to be unable to fool a sparkling, at the moment. The prank was my idea," he says, bowing his helm, though I am pretty sure it is more to hide his smirk than out of shame. The mech is shameless.

"Just out of curiousity, Optimus gave you the most trouble, didn't he?" I ask, not at all fooled by his act of apologeticness.

"Yes. He's worse than the twins, and we raised them, too," Ratchet mutters. Optimus makes a noise of protest, but Ratchet's pulling out his wrench stops him. I think that it's enough to stop everyone in their tracks if they were to see it.

"Though, you are becoming a close second," Ironhide mutters.

"This will simply not do. I can not stand second place," I say. "OP, you need to not act like a youngling, so I can become number one menace," I add.

"NO!" came the equally horrified replies from all four mechs.

"Oh, cool it. I was JOKING!" I say. They sigh in relief. "But seriously, that second part of the prank wasn't cool at all. ESPECIALLY because it was on ME."

"Calm down, little one, I am the one scolding them, not you," Ironhide says. "Please put on the headphones again, I do not need Ratchet yelling at me for teaching you more Cybertronian curse words than you already know."

I sigh and slide them on, watching in amusement as Ironhide thoroughly scolds Optimus and Megatron. Optimus looks positively terrified by the end of it, and if I can assume, has apologize legitimately for his actions at least twelve times now. Megatron has said nothing, but he steadily begins to hunch more and more.

"You know, Megatron only had a part in helping me get you off the base, why is he getting in so much trouble, too?" I ask once it's safe for the headphones to be removed.

"Because, as one of the leaders of our race, he should have had half the processor to put a stop to it," Ratchet says, glaring at the two grown mechs who were cowering like scolded younglings. Which, in the presence of these two mechs, they were.

"I already apologized, Caretaker!" Megatron protests.

"He did. He didn't even try to skive off getting yelled at," I say.

"Why are you taking his side?" Ironhide asks suspiciously.

"Because I don't think anyone has realized yet the his helm and half his chassis is paintless," I say. Megatron looks down in surprise to find that I am right.

"Little brother, you ruined my paint job," Megatron says slowly. He tackles the slightly smaller mech, and in about three seconds, its a full out brawl between the two. I sigh.

"They never grow up, do they?" Ratchet asks in disbelief at the sight.

"No one ever truly grows up. They just learn how to act in public. Not to mention that the war has just ended, and the biggest threat is probably terrified to show his faceplate here for a long while, they need some… sibling bonding time?" I say, not sure if it is the right wording.

"By beating each other to scrap?" Ratchet asks, easily sidestepping a shot the had just been fired.

"That's what me and MY sisters normally do. Though, nowadays, it's more verbal than physical," I say. I pull a small, which is to say, weak cannon and carefully aim at them, shooting it just so it would ricochet and hit them both. They break apart in surprise, pulling out their own weapons defensively.

"You guys done yet?" I don my holoform and form a watch on my wrist, checking it. "We've been in here for a couple of hours now," I add.

"Are we being scolded by that insolent little sparkling, brother?" Optimus asks, his optics twinkling mischievously.

"I believe that we are, little brother," Megatron agrees, having the same look in his now blue optics. I take an involuntary step back, falling right off Ironhide but teleporting out of the room. I land next to my siblings, all of them, who are huddled together and whispering.

"I think I might need some back-up," I tell them urgently. Weapons are pulled from subspace, and I grin. They may be big, but there are seven of us, and only two of them, and we know how to disappear. Which I am quick to teach them via the comm. We plot and we disappear, moving around the room as Megatron and Optimus enter it. When they do, we all freeze. Them hearing us moving would not be a very good idea. Then Kain stumbles, making a tiny scuffing noise. Of course. My sisters and I all have impeccable balance, especially Ellie and Shelby, having been in gymnastics. Luke does as well, and so does Michael. Kain… not so much at the moment.

"It appears that the sparklings have pulled a disappearing trick on us, Optimus," Megatron growls. I shiver at his tone. Such mischievousness should not be able to be balled into one sentence. I hear someone shift, and I am sure that it is Luke, from where it came from. It also happens to be on the opposite side of the room. Next to me.

"Do you have the feeling that were are not only being watched, but surrounded as well?" Optimus asks slowly.

"I have that exact feeling," Megatron says. I take a risk and teleport onto one of the thinner rafters, one that my ped barely fits on, but I easily keep my balance. They both look up and around them.

"This might end badly," Megatron mutters.

::Caity, where did you go?:: Luke asks me. I look down at the moving particles and spot the space that is Luke.

::Rafter.:: I reply shortly.

::Good idea. I'll join you.:: Ellie replies, and you could hear another faint thump as she teleports up there. I glare as she does a couple of beam gymnastics, showing off. Of course, since I was watching her, I knew exactly how to do that. At least they were silent.

"Oh dear. We have at least two on the ground and two in the rafters. Where are the other three?" Optimus asks patronizingly. Everyone pulls their lowest grade weapon from subspace and fires, teleporting to a different spot as they hit, making quite a few dents and ruining his paint job thoroughly.

"Nice going, Optimus. Frag off the pit-spawn. That is a brilliant plan," Megatron mutters sarcastically. I fire a shot at him, which is probably what he had planned, because the speed at which fires off his own shot is too fast for him to not have been expecting it. At least my shot connected as well...

"Slag," I say, teleporting, but still getting caught by some of the blast. I just had to thank Primus that he hadn't had the fusion cannon to full blast, or else the dent in the wall would have been much bigger. The program that made it so I could go invisible glitched, making me appear. "Ouch. Good shot, but ouch," I groan.

"Get over here, little one," Megatron orders, sounding a little bit guilty.

"Um, I think I would rather stay here," I groan as I get up nonetheless and walk over to him. He bends down and lifts me into his servo easily. I sit, turning off pain receptors in my back and left shoulder, as well as both wings. It had been a powerful hit for someone as small as me.

"Well, we have what we came here for. Good bye," Megatron says. He is met by my six siblings suddenly appearing and aiming different cannons at him. He freezes with a chuckle that is matched by Optimus.

"Subspace your cannons, all of you. Come here, sparklings," Optimus orders, and I can see the alarm and confusion in my sister's eyes as they are forced to comply while the guys just groan in disappointment. They climb onto Prime's offered servos, the boys on one side and the girls on the other.

"Good job, Ellie. If you had gone with MY idea, we never would have been seen, therefore, we wouldn't have been caught," Luke snaps. I stiffen.

"Luke, watch your mouth. She may look nice and innocent, but every one of my sisters would kick your aft," I warn nervously.

"Of course they would. I don't hit girls, even if they hit me first," Luke scoffs. I wince and close my eyes as Ellie expertly throws a knife at him and it lands firmly in his arm. He yelps but just pulls it out, handing it calmly back to Ellie. She takes it, apparently satisfied that he learned not to cross her. "That includes knives," he adds.

"Dude, she just stabbed you," Kain says.

"Yeah, she can't do that!" Michael protests. Kain would never hit a girl, either, but Michael has no such boundaries. If they hit him, he will retaliate.

"Yes, actually, she can," Luke says. "And she clearly just did."

I wince. He's pissed. Ellie's pissed and Luke's pissed, and they have explosive personalities. This is not going to go over well. "Maybe you guys should sep-" I suggest before being interrupted.

"Are you just going to sit their and let your crazy sister throw knives at us?" Michael asks, but it's not directed at me. It's directed at Kayla and Shelby.

"Yup," Shelby says with a cold glare.

"It was only one knife and it didn't even hit anything vital. He'll be fine. Ellie's not crazy. She's probably smarter than all three of you combined," Kayla sneers.

I sit and groan, wishing I could just disappear from this dimension. My siblings were getting into a pissing contest. This was not going to end well.

"Caity, tell your sisters that they need to lay off," Kain growls.

"Caity, tell you BROTHERS," Kayla says, sneering the word disdainfully, "that they need to learn when to shut up," she finishes.

"I am sure that you all can hear each other and don't need me to be brought into the argument," I say, looking at both sides.

"Come on, guys, we don't need this. We'll come back when Caity's sisters aren't being such jerks," Luke says, glaring at my sisters.

"That will happen when Caity's BROTHERS learn some respect. We're older than all of you," Ellie sneers.

"Come on Caity," both sides say.

"Caity's coming with us," Ellie snaps.

"No, Caity's coming with US," Kain spits back. "Rule Two."

"Uh, Caity is staying right here, out of Caity's siblings fight, and and by Megatron and Optimus because they caught Caity fair and square," I say, speaking about myself in third person to gain their attention.

Both sides stare at me in shock but don't protest, just teleport away. I sigh in relief.

"That was… an interesting show of territorialism," Megatron comments.

"This is going to end badly. Can't they learn how to share? Or, I don't know, accept each other as siblings through me?" I ask to no one in particular.

"You know of your two eldest sisters, Ellie and Kayla? You were too young when you accepted Kayla as your sister, you do not even have proper memories of your life without her. Ellie and Kayla, however, have jealousy over both Shelby and your attention of them. That is because they are step siblings and they were forced together, and remember what it was like without each other," Optimus explains.

"But… they aren't like that to me and Shelby. I mean, Kayla treats us just like Ellie does, sometimes more so," I say, not understanding.

"I already said how you were too young to remember not having Kayla as a sister. Because of that, because of how young you were, it was easier for her to accept you as her sister. Ellie, however, is older than her. Someone that bosses her around and annoys her. Ellie has jealousy of her because of the fact that you cannot recall when it was just the three of you and of how much time you spent with Kayla more so than her, even though the two of you were more similar and genetically related. It is similar with both sets of your siblings. Both can recall when it was just you with them, and the other side is not in the picture."

"So… they're like step-siblings?" I ask. "It looks like we're going to have to have a share out of what we've all gone through. Maybe understanding each other would help."

"I do not know if they would listen," Megatron says.

"Oh, they'll listen, if I have to hold them captive for them to do it," I threaten lowly, my optics, not that I see them, flashing purple for a moment and nearly causing me to be dropped by Megatron.

"I'd suggest locking them in the same room as each other and ordering them not to teleport," he suggests. I grin at him, my optics gleaming purple again.

"I knew I liked you for a reason," I say, patting one very sharp claw before teleporting over to Optimus. "Please please please please can we have the go ahead to do that?" I beg, widening my optics to their fullest in the Cybertronian version of puppy eyes.

"That's adorable," Megatron snorts. I turn on him, optics still as wide as they could go, but this time I intentionally flashed them purple. He looks away uneasily. I turn them back to baby blue and look back at Optimus, who is having a silent war with himself.

"You may, but you will have to have Megatron's permission, because I will not be ordering them to do anything of the sort," Optimus says evasively.

"Throw me under the bus, little brother," Megatron mutters.

"Pretty pretty pretty please?" I beg him, "I just want them to STOP their POINTLESS FIGHTING," I plea.

"Gah, fine! Just, cease you optic trickery. Especially that flashing purple," he growls. I grin and nod in agreement. I spend the next ten minutes rounding up my siblings and locking them in the smallest room in the base, while Megatron orders each of them in turn that they are not allowed to teleport until they are out of this room. I teleport and listen to the shouting match that is taking place inside. After three hours of it, it trickles to a stop. Then they start plotting their revenge on us. At least they are agreeing. But this could prove bad for me. They door shakes on its hinges. Then again for three more times until it is blasted off. Literally.

I give them an apologetic grin.

"Sorry. Had to get you guys to stop arguing somehow, right? Not talking to each other at all doesn't count, either," I explain.

"Yeah, we know. So don't hate us for this. Your lack of a paint job is something that has been bothering us for a while and we wanted to do something about it. Anything for our baby sister," Ellie says sweetly.

"Oh, for the love of-" I begin to grumble before I am kidnapped by Sunny and Sides. I don't even bother fighting them on it, because it really could be worse. As long as they didn't try to paint me pink like Shelby was. Kayla was purple with silver accents, Ellie was sky blue, Luke was black with gold accents, Kain, he had stuck with the blue but to a more tealish color, and Michael was green.

Overall, we had a flippin' rainbow. "Hmm, what color?" Sunny asks Sides.

"I don't know. Something that is uniquely her…" Sides says, turning me on his servo.

"That brown wasn't too bad," Sunny says. I groan and got to sit, only to be forced to stand once more by Sides.

"Yeah, brown wouldn't be too bad. Accents or no?" Sides prompts. I almost shake my head, but stop myself. They would DEFINITELY do accents if that happened.

"Yeah. What color? Silver or gold?"

"Why not both?"

"We'll do both and just repaint if it doesn't work out."

I grit my denta at that. He had better not have to repaint, or I WOULD make a scene. That scene would not end nicely for them.

"Now, stay still, litle one, unless one of us moves you. I don't want to repaint you anymore than you want to be repainted," Sunny warns. I huff and force myself to stay still. It isn't until it gets to painting my face plates that I protests. I duck away from Sunny, wincing.

"Ah, come on. You weren't having any problems a click ago!" Sides protests.

"I don't like-" I begin to say, cutting off when Sides pulls something from subspace and holds it in front of me. "What is that?" I ask, holding still once more.

"It's called an energon treat, it's like candy for Cybertronians," he assures. "If ya stay still until we're done, I'll give it to you, deal?"

I think this over. "I'm wondering if the don't take candy from strangers applies to you two," I say warily.

"No, it doesn't. Watch, no ill effects," he says, breaking off a small piece and eating it. Nothing bad happened.

I feel my willpower crumble. "Fine," I say, staying as still as I possibly could, offlining my optics so I wouldn't flinch.

"Alright, bratling, we're done," Sides says, pressing something into my servo. I scan it warily, aware how easily they could switch it with something else and put a holo over it to fool me. "Eat it or I'll take it back," Sides adds. I break off a small piece and eat it. It is way better than any human treat. I break off another small piece and steadily eat it.

"Told you," Sides says. "Just… don't let Ratchet know I gave you one, or I'd be so full of dents I wouldn't be able to function." I nod, finishing the treat off quickly. Sunny holds up a large mirror from his subspace so I could see my new paint job.

"Cool!" I say, zooming in on the images and spinning. "I like it," I add. "Thanks, Sunstreaker. Thank you Sideswipe," I say.

"You should keep more of those on you. She's nicer after eating them," Sunny mutters moodily.

"Maybe you should give HIM some, too," I retort. Sides snorts while I teleport back to my siblings.

"Well, they weren't supposed to give you a GOOD paint job!" Luke complains.

"This is Sunny and Sides we're talking about," I remind.

They nod in understanding. The base shakes as something attacks it. I sigh. "Really? Someone just needs to destroy that guy," I say grumpily.

"Be our guest," Ellie growls darkly.

"No, stay here. We will deal with him. Without his cosmic rust cannon, he will be easily defeated. It is sad to say that he will not be convinced to surrender."

I turn to Optimus, feeling sorry for what he was about to do. "Good luck. Take Megatron with you," I add in warning.

We sit in fear as we listen to the sounds of battle above our heads. Hours went by, and slowly the rest of the bots on base went to the surface, though Ironhide and Ratchet stayed down to ensure that we didn't go anywhere. Not that we would. That would be a little suicidal for us.

The fighting slowly died down, and I was reminded of when my parents would fight and I would cling to Ellie just like I was doing right now. I had no idea what would happen. I only grew more worried as, though the fighting seemed to have ceased, no one was returning.

If I was scared, Shelby was terrified, and everyone else was at least slightly uneasy. A loud bang came from the reinforced door, making me jump. Amazing, wasn't it, how I could casually argue with Megatron but a fight that I wasn't involved with, wasn't ALLOWED to get involved with, made me terrified.

"Caity, it's okay, they'll be fine," Ellie soothes, pulling me closer and tucking my helm under her chin. "They won't keep fighting for very much longer," she lies. I shake, an unfamiliar keening noise coming from my vocal processor. Ravage is also still here, recovering from his ordeal still. He had taken quite the beating.

"Don't keen, little one. They are only removing the presence of the drones that are still attempting to attack the base. They are in no danger," Ravage assures, using his tail to bring us all close against him. I'm pressed in the middle of it, breathing steadily to ward off claustrophobia. Not five minutes later, though, the victorious bots walk in tiredly.

"You guys are okay!" I proclaim in delight, alerting the others of their return. No matter what Ellie had said, she's the first one to go over and hug Optimus in thanks. We all follow her example, but instead of hugging Optimus, I hug Megatron, who looks down at me surprise.

"What has gotten into you?" he demands.

"I was worried that somehow the events of the movie would play out and you were gonna die, and that can't happen, because you're nice now and not under the influence of the Fallen," I explain.

"I doubt that would happen anytime soon," he scoffs.


End file.
